ATLA::Alternatives to Laboratory Animals

Volume 28, Number 4

A battery of cell toxicity assays as predictors of eye irritation: A feasibility study.

ATLA 28, 575-601, July/August 2000

Herbert S. Rosenkranz and Albert R. Cunningham

Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA

SUMMARY

The newly developed "chemical diversity approach" was used to determine whether or not it is likely that a panel of in vitro cell toxicity assays capable of predicting in vivo eye irritation could be assembled. The analyses, based upon available and validated structure-activity relationship models of toxicity in cultured human HeLa cells and murine Balb/c 3T3 cells, indicate that a battery of cytotoxicity tests could provide a viable alternative to the animal-based procedure.

Keywords: cellular toxicity, eye irritation, predictions