Differentiated cell and organ culture in toxicity testing.

The safety evaluation of new chemicals involves a range of investigations, including acute and sub-acute toxicity testing, long-term toxicity testing, studies on mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, and reproductive toxicity, and special investigations involving the interaction of the chemical under test with particular parts of the body, such as the skin or the nervous system. We shall consider the potential role of differentiated cell and organ culture in toxicity testing, and the criteria available for assessing cell viability, damage, and death, with a view to establishing whether such methods could be used for determining the relative acute toxicities of chemicals. We shall also consider methods for studying the effects of chemicals on general and specific aspects of cell structure and function, including liver cell and organ cultures both as primary targets themselves susceptible to damage and as providers of metabolically activated compounds able to affect other cells and tissues.