Animal test procedures

SUMMARY - The enhancement of the speed and efficacy of imipramine by the addition of thyroid hormone to the treatment program represents a promising develofanent in the control of depression. The apparent clinical failure of many new structures that exhibited high activity in one or more animal test procedures is indicative of the poor correlation between animal models and the complex nature of human depression. Biochemical, neuropharmacological and human pharmacological studies may yield new clues to the discovery of more effective, rapidacting, and less toxic antidepressives than those that are now available. 

In a broad evaluation also the sulfosuccinate disodium laureth sulfosuccinate (DLSS) was a part of a variety of surfactants tested for their dermatological mildness, and some different test methods were applied [16]. Products were compared applying in vitro methods (Zein test, hemolysis) and in vivo methods (Duhring-Chamber test, skin mildness by intracutaneous test on mice and topical application on hairless mice, mucous membrane irritation according to the Draize procedure on rabbit eyes). In the Duhring-Chamber test the DLSS elicited no reactions in the animal tests it ranged in the least irritant third of the 15 products tested. 

With improvements in scientific knowledge and related technology, there is an expectation that more environmentally friendly pesticides will continue to be introduced, and that ecotoxicity testing procedures will become more sophisticated. There is much interest in the introduction of better testing procedures that work to more ecologically relevant end points than the lethal toxicity tests that are still widely used. Such a development should be consistent with the aims of organizations such as FRAME and ECVAM, which seek to reduce toxicity testing with animals. Mechanistic biomarker assays have the potential to be an important part of... 

The term alternative includes all procedures which can completely replace the need for animal experiments, reduce the number of animals required, or diminish the amount of distress or pain suffered by animals in meeting the essential needs of man and other animals. Its purpose is to promote the development and implementation of new methods to Replace, Reduce, Refine (the 3 Rs ) animal testing with modem alternative approaches. Russell and Burch [4] proposed the framework of the 3 Rs more than 40 year ago. The authors proposed that all research using animals should be evaluated to see if the 3 Rs could be applied. Since that landmark publication, significant progress has been made, especially in the arena of regulatory testing [5]. 

One potential risk that formulators run when using cosolvents as drug solubilizers is the possibility of vehicle toxicity. Each cosolvent is characterized by an acceptable concentration range, which cannot be exceeded without incurring biological damage. To avoid the requirement for in vivo testing, several in vitro models have been advanced to evaluate the relative safety of cosolvent excipients. The most useful in vitro procedure follows the hemolysis of red blood cells, which has been correlated with in vivo animal tests [87,88]. 

Although many B-lactam antibiotics have been described, a relatively small number are used in food-producing animals and these are the only ones of concern as residues. Microbiological test procedures are ordinarily very sensitive to B-lactam antibiotics (49). 

The third health effect bioassay employed utilizes acute toxicity in whole animals (rats). Since the major objective of the Level 1 biological testing procedure is to identify toxicology problems at minimal cost, a two-step approach is taken to the initial acute in vivo toxicology evaluation of unknown compounds. The first is based on a... 

The principle of the TER test is that the test material is applied for up to 24 h to the epidermal surfaces of skin discs taken from the pelts of humanely killed young rats. Corrosive materials are identified by their abUity to produce a loss of normal stratum comeum integrity and barrier function, which is measured as a reduction in the inherent TER below a threshold level (5 kil). Generally, materials that are noncorrosive in animals, but are irritating or nonirritating, do not reduce the TER below the threshold level. A dye-binding step can be incorporated into the test procedure for... 

VJ The workshop that addressed the problem would have been quite interesting to you, as it was a shoot-out between chemical and physical test procedures and animal noses. I was asked to represent the noses. 

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