ABSTRACT
Differences in toxic lesions between animal species and man are a persistent problem for the extrapolation of toxicological data developed in animals to human safety. When the toxic lesions induced by 50 chemical compounds were compared between rodents and nonrodents, 40% of the compounds produced lesions in different target organs in different species. This chapter summarizes some reported species differences in toxic lesions produced in animals and examines the implications of such a recapitulation when the human experience is added. Although the main difference between the biotransformation of xenobiotics in man and animals is more quantitative than qualitative, species differences in conjugation, acetylation, hydroxylation and biliary excretion have been established. Species differences in biotransformation led to the production of a toxic metabolite in the affected species given cyclacillin and BL-5111. A species difference in renal physiology is involved in the nephrotoxicity of decalin.
