ABSTRACT
Acute toxicity studies are conducted on animals to ascertain the total adverse biological effects occuring during a finite period of time following the administration of single, frequently large, doses of an agent. The effects observed in the animals usually are related directly to the amount of the chemical substance administered orally, dermally, or via inhalation. The method to evaluate qualitative alterations produced in the eyes of exposed animals and to transform them into quantitative measurements is known as the Draize test. According to this method, the substance to be tested is applied in a single dose to one eye in each of several experimental animals; the untreated eye is used to provide control information. Carcinogenicity studies are largely based on animal investigation. In the reproduction toxicity studies, one generation or two generations of animals are investigated: the parent animals are treated for all their sexual cycles, during the mating period and thereafter.
