For studies of toxicity the use of animals is not necessary

2016/01/27 Etxebeste Aduriz, Egoitz - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Kimika

To predict the degree of toxicity of chemical compounds, it is not necessary to test in animals, to use sufficient cells. Researchers from the NIH (National Institutes of Health) of the United States have reached this conclusion, according to the journal Nature Communications.

In vivo studies in animals is a common practice in the study of human and animal toxicity of substances such as pesticides, industrial chemical compounds, food additives, medicines, etc. The goal of the Tox21 project, driven by various U.S. public institutions, is to develop better methods for carrying out these studies. For this purpose, about 10,000 chemical compounds have been analyzed in different in vitro experiments based on human cells. And combining the data obtained from these experiments with information on the structure of chemical compounds, they have been able to produce models of toxicity of these substances.

In addition, these results have compared with the results of research with animals and with data known to humans, that these new models of toxicity predict the degree of toxicity. Researchers have recognized the obligation to carry out even more experiments, but propose that these “in vitro” cell-based techniques can be used in toxicity studies and that they can assess which substances need deeper toxicological tests.