Adverse effects in traditional and alternative toxicity tests.

ABSTRACT: Chemical safety assessment begins with defining the lowest level of chemical that alters one or more measured endpoints. This critical effect level, along with factors to account for uncertainty, is used to derive limits for human exposure. In the absence of data regarding the specific mechanisms or biological pathways affected, non-specific endpoints such as body weight and non-target organ weight changes are used to set critical effect levels. Specific apical endpoints such as impaired reproductive function or altered neurodevelopment have also been used to set chemical safety limits; however, in test guidelines designed for specific apical effect(s), concurrently measured non-specific endpoints may be equally or more sensitive than specific endpoints. This means that rather than predict

SUBMITTER: Browne P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11062625 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature