title: Animal species and strains used to test chemical carcinogens: results of a preliminary study.
abstract: The selection of animal species sufficiently representative of human physiological processes and sensitive to a wide spectrum of toxic agents is one of the major problems in toxicology. The aim of this study, based on animal experimental carcinogenesis data available from the literature, was the identification of animal strains most often used in experimental carcinogenesis. The analysis was limited to experiments on chemicals or groups of chemicals classified by IARC under Group 1 of carcinogenic risk (sufficient evidence). For each experiment considered in the study, data concerning animal species, strains, and substrains (whenever possible) were collected. The data analysis has shown that approximately 83 and 61% of the considered carcinogens were tested positively in mouse and rat, respectively, and that A, Swiss, and C3H mouse strains and Sprague-Dawley and Wistar rat strains were used most often. The study has shown that practically all decisions regarding the carcinogenicity of substances are based on the response of only two animal species (mouse and rat). Therefore, a clear and complete understanding of carcinogenicity mechanisms in these species becomes essential in order to extrapolate results to man.
authors.affiliation: Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Bucchi
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Silano
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Zapponi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015197:Carcinogenicity Tests / Q000379:methods*; D006224:Cricetinae; D004285:Dogs; D000882:Haplorhini; D008647:Mesocricetus; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D011817:Rabbits; D011896:Rana temporaria; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013045:Species Specificity; D014319:Triturus