Reduction, refinement and replacement: putting the immune system to work.
Many chemicals are known to be, or have been implicated as, contact allergens, and allergic contact dermatitis is an important occupational and environmental health issue. It is the responsibility of toxicologists to identify those chemicals that have the potential to induce skin sensitisation, and to assess the conditions under which there will exist a risk to human health. This article describes progress that has been made in the development of new approaches to the toxicological evaluation of skin sensitisation, and the benefits to animal welfare that such developments have already produced, and are likely to produce in the future. In this context, the local lymph node assay is described with regard to hazard identification and risk assessment, and possible strategies for the development of in vitro approaches to safety assessment are discussed.
Kimber
Ian
I
Syngenta Central Toxicology Laboratory, Alderley Park, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK10 4TJ, UK.
D000485:Allergens / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000633:toxicity; D000826:Animal Testing Alternatives / Q000379:methods*; D000827:Animal Welfare; D000818:Animals; D017449:Dermatitis, Allergic Contact / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D018570:Risk Assessment; D018675:Toxicity Tests / Q000379:methods*
D000485:Allergens