An
in vitro crystal violet staining method using the rabbit cornea-derived cell line (SIRC-CVS) has been developed as an alternative to predict acute systemic toxicity in rodents. Seventy-nine chemicals, the
in vitro cytotoxicity of which was already reported by the Multicenter Evaluation of
In vitro Toxicity (MEIC) and ICCVAM/ECVAM, were selected as test compounds. The cells were incubated with the chemicals for 72 hrs and the IC
50 and IC
35 values (μg/mL) were obtained. The results were compared to the
in vivo (rat or mouse) "most toxic" oral, intraperitoneal, subcutaneous and intravenous LD
50 values (mg/kg) taken from the RTECS database for each of the chemicals by using Pearson's correlation statistics. The following parameters were calculated: accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, prevalence, positive predictability, and negative predictability. Good linear correlations (Pearson's coefficient;
r>0.6) were observed between either the IC
50 or the IC
35 values and all the LD
50 values. Among them, a statistically significant high correlation (
r=0.8102, p<0.001) required for acute systemic toxicity prediction was obtained between the IC
50 values and the oral LD
50 values. By using the cut-off concentrations of 2,000 mg/kg (LD
50) and 4,225 μg/mL (IC
50), no false negatives were observed, and the accuracy was 84.8%. From this, it is concluded that this method could be used to predict the acute systemic toxicity potential of chemicals in rodents.
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