A new approach to minimizing the number of animals used in acute toxicity testing and optimizing the information of test results

✍ Scribed by E. Schütz; H. Fuchs

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1982
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 788 KB
• Volume: 51
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0340-5761
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00348853

✦ Synopsis

170 acute toxicity determinations, carried out in rats, mice, and guinea pigs after oral and parenteral administration during the past 5 years, using 5 c~/5 9 animals per dose, were evaluated with respect to the possibility of a reduction of animals necessary for obtaining LDs0 values with limits of confidence. Calculations were performed on existing data; no additional animal experiments were initiated for the purpose of this paper.

For the majority of substances 3 c~/3 9 animals per dose would have sufficed for the determination of a LDs0 value with limits of confidence. Even when using 2 c~/2 9 animals per dose, in most cases sufficently acceptable LDs0 values can be determined, if the period of observationconventionally 4 weeks -would be doubled. Using this procedure, 75% of the animals could be saved. The reduced number of animals and the labor saved thereby would allow for a more individualized observation of single animals thus optimizing the evaluation of acute toxicity testing.