ALTEX :: Alternatives to Animal Experiments

1996, Volume 2

Maximum Likelihood Classification Rule for Assessing Acute Toxicity

Sabine Glaser and Hartmut Hecker

Institute for Biometry, Medical Highschool D-Hannover

SUMMARY

As an alternative to the Acute Toxic Class method a simple procedure for the classification of substances into toxicity classes based on the maximum likelihood principle is proposed. The number of experimental animals needed as well as the reliability of the classification is similar to that of the ATC method. In the case of true LD50 values of 2000 mg/kg body weight and above it even is considerably better.

Keywords: LD50 test, maximum likelihood principle, classification, ATC method