Abstract
170 acute toxicity determinations, carried out in rats, mice, and guinea pigs after oral and parenteral administration during the past 5 years, using 5 ♂/5 ♀ animals per dose, were evaluated with respect to the possibility of a reduction of animals necessary for obtaining LD50 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 ♂/3 ♀ animals per dose would have sufficed for the determination of a LD50 value with limits of confidence. Even when using 2 ♂/2 ♀ animals per dose, in most cases sufficently acceptable LD50 values can be determined, if the period of observation — conventionally 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.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cavalli-Sforza, L (1969) Biometrie, 2. Auflage, Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart
Fuchs, H (1976) Durchführung und Auswertung enteraler sowie parenteraler akuter Toxizität sversuche unter besonderer Berücksichtigung präparatunabhängiger Faktoren. Ingenieurarbeit, Giessen-Friedberg
Linder, A (1960) Statistische Methoden, 3. Auflage, Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel
Weber, E (1967) Grundriß der biologischen Statistik, 6. Auflage, Gustav Fischer Verlag, Jena
Schütz, E (1968) Über die akute orale Toxizitätsprüfung. Arzneim Forsch (Drugs Res) 18:466–469
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schütz, E., Fuchs, H. A new approach to minimizing the number of animals used in acute toxicity testing and optimizing the information of test results. Arch Toxicol 51, 197–220 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00348853
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00348853