Resumo

MURILLO JORGE, Gisela; PEREZ MARQUES, Luis Ulpiano  e  TUR NARANJO, Enieyis. Incorporation of two alternative assays for evaluating ocular irritation in a toxicology laboratory. Rev Cubana Farm [online]. 2004, vol.38, n.3, pp. 1-1. ISSN 1561-2988.

Two alternative assays to the use of laboratory animals that have been proposed to determine the potential of ocular irritation of chemical substances and formulations, were evaluated. One of them uses bovine erythrocytes and the other the chorio-allantoic membrane of the chicken embrio of 10 days of incubation. The irritation potential of some of the reference substances that are included in the respective protocols was calculated and it was found correspondence with the data reported in them, since the classification for each of the substance was identical to the referred one. Benzalkonium chloride, lauryl sodium sulphate and sodium hydroxide proved to be irritant. Poly-ethylen-glycol was not irritant. This behavior is the same that has been obtained in vivo. Besides providing reliable results, these techniques are economic, fast and easy to be applied compared with the traditional procedure carried out in rabbits.

Palavras-chave : In vitro toxicology; ocular irritation; alternative methods.