In Vitro Models for Dermal Corrosion / Irritation and Eye Irritation Offered by Charles River
May 7, 2010 – As part of our continued commitment to the 3Rs (to reduce, refine and replace animals in research), we have evaluated in vitro models for dermal corrosion and irritation as well as eye irritation and are pleased to add these new assays to our portfolio of tests to help accelerate the development of your compound. The three models evaluated and available for use are:
- EpiSkin Skin Corrosivity Assay. Offers an in vitro alternative to the Draize skin test in rabbits. Corrosive materials can be identified prior to animal testing, and non-corrosive materials can be confirmed in the in vivo test. This assay is identified by the E.U. Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) as an “officially validated” alternative test for cosmetic testing (http://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/consumer_
safety/docs/sccs_s_001.pdf).
- EpiSkin Skin Irritation Assay. Also an in vitro alternative to the Draize test, this assay allows for the identification of irritants prior to animal testing. It is also identified by the SCCS as an “officially validated” alternative test for cosmetic testing.
- HCE Eye Irritation Assay. Provides a potential test-kit alternative to the bovine corneal opacity and permeability test and isolated chicken eye test, both of which require tissue recovery from animals obtained from slaughter houses.
In vitro models of skin and eye irritation/corrosivity have considerable advantages for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. While in vivo testing of non-irritants is necessary, these in vitro assays can help identify corrosive or irritant compounds while minimizing animal use and distress, in line with our ongoing commitment to animal welfare.
These assays can also lead to lower test item usage, because testing can be performed using as little as 100 mg of compound. They also have high predictive power; published validations of these models have demonstrated their ability to identify corrosive and irritant compounds from many different chemical classes.
In addition, an acknowledged challenge with animal models is that there is a basic difference in biology between species. Since these in vitro models are derived from human tissues or cell lines, histology shows them to be very similar to the human tissues that they represent.
For more information about these assays or any of our products and services, contact us at askcharlesriver@crl.com.
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