OECD GUIDELINES FOR ACUTE ORAL TOXICITY STUDIES: AN OVERVIEW

The OECD Guidelines for testing chemicals provide a unique method for assessing the potential impact of chemicals on human health and the environment. These are divided into five sections. Oral toxicity studies are mentioned in the fourth section, i.e. Health Effects. This section cites the guidelines for acute, sub-acute, sub-chronic and chronic oral toxicity studies. Acute oral toxicity refers to those adverse effects of oral administration of a single dose or multiple doses given within 24 hours. OECD guidelines for Acute oral toxicity include 420 (Fixed Dose Procedure), 423 (Acute Toxic Class Method) and 425 (Up-and-Down procedure). OECD guidelines 420, 423 and 425 provide information on the hazardous properties and allow the substance to be ranked and classified according to the Globally Harmonised System (GHS) for the classification of chemicals which cause acute toxicity. In OECD Guideline 423, the method classifies the test substance as one of a series of toxicity classes defined by fixed LD50 cut-off values, while the OECD Guideline 425 method permits estimation of LD50 with a confidence interval. Based on these guidelines, a toxic dose of the drug is obtained. This study aims to compare and highlight the acute oral toxicity guidelines.