Animal Welfare Considerations When Conducting OECD Test Guideline Inhalation and Toxicokinetic Studies for Nanomaterials

Abstract

The OECD test guidelines for animal experiments play an important role in evaluating the chemical hazards. Animal tests performed using OECD guidelines, especially when the good laboratory practice (GLP) principle is applied, reduce the duplication of toxicity testing and ensure the best mutual acceptance of data by the OECD’s Mutual Acceptance of Data (MAD). The OECD inhalation toxicity test guidelines 412 (28 days) and 413 (90 days) have been revised. These OECD guidelines now reflect the inclusion of nanomaterials and recent scientific and technological developments. In particular, these test guidelines aim to evaluate the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in the lungs for objective toxicity evaluation, along with the existing subjective histopathological evaluation. For solid particles, the lung burden measurement of particles is required for toxicokinetic studies and, in order to properly perform a toxicokinetic study, two post-exposure observations are recommended. In light of the revised OECD guidelines, we propose a method to reduce the number of animals when testing is conducted for nanomaterials.