Opacity of bovine cornea in vitro induced by surfactants and industrial chemicals compared with ocular irritancy in vivo.
The ability of 8 surfactants and 5 industrial chemicals to induce bovine corneal opacity in vitro was investigated using a simple specially constructed instrument, the opacitometer. Concentration-effect curves were constructed for each agent. The relative extent to which the agents caused the development of corneal opacity in vitro correlated well with published data on their ocular irritancy in vivo. It is suggested that the measurement of irritant-induced opacity of isolated bovine cornea in vitro may have certain advantages over in vivo irritancy testing as well as over other alternative in vitro techniques and that it may provide the basis for an objective, cost-effective alternative to many current in vivo ocular irritancy tests.
D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D003318:Corneal Opacity / Q000139:chemically induced*; D005123:Eye / Q000187:drug effects*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007509:Irritants / Q000633:toxicity*; D011817:Rabbits; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000633:toxicity*
D007509:Irritants; D013501:Surface-Active Agents