Assessment of two alternative methods for predicting the in vivo toxicities of metallic compounds.

The FRAME in vitro cytotoxicity assay and a physicochemical parameter for metal ions (i.e., "softness," sigma p) were assessed for their ability to predict the in vivo acute toxicities of 52 metallic compounds. The in vitro assay was found to be more useful, since it measures the toxicity of the whole compound, as does the in vivo method. The softness parameter applies to the metal ion only, so it cannot be used to predict the toxicity of compounds containing relatively nontoxic metal ions and toxic anions (e.g., potassium fluoride). The in vitro toxicity values (expressed as ID50 values, i.e., concentrations of test chemicals that reduced the final cellular protein content of test cultures by 50% in comparison with appropriate solvent control cultures) correlated better with mouse ip LD50 values than with rat oral LD50 values.