Exfoliative cytology as a refinement of the Draize eye irritancy test.
Collection of exfoliated cells from the eyes of albino rabbits was performed in conjunction with the Draize ocular irritancy test. At standard intervals after exposure to alcohols of known irritancy, exfoliated cells were retrieved from the conjunctival sac with a distilled water corneal rinse. These cells were fixed and then counted, centrifuged and stained by the method of Papanicolaou. The number of cells which were retrieved, correlated well with Draize test scores. This non-invasive modification of the Draize test was well tolerated by rabbits and provides an objective assessment of ocular irritancy. It is hoped that this refinement of the Draize test will reduce the numbers of animals used and provide more objective data upon which validation procedures for alternative methods can be based.
D000438:Alcohols / Q000633:toxicity; D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count; D005123:Eye / Q000187:drug effects*; D007509:Irritants / Q000633:toxicity*; D008297:Male; D011817:Rabbits
D000438:Alcohols; D007509:Irritants