Quantification of toxic response and the development of the median effective dose (ED50)--a historical perspective.
The development of the widely-used median effective (or lethal) dose as a summary measure in quantifying toxic response to chemical stimuli is reviewed. Attention is directed at those mathematical properties noted by the originator of the median effective dose, the English physiologist John William Trevan, that make the measure a useful summary statistic for toxicological studies. Consideration is also given to the development of precursor measures to the median effective dose, such as minimal effective dose.
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Division of Biometry and Risk Assessment, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
D000818:Animals; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D007928:Lethal Dose 50; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014116:Toxicology / Q000266:history*