Yuko Nukada

Data integration of non-animal tests for the development of a test battery to predict the skin sensitizing potential and potency of chemicals.

Recent changes in regulatory restrictions and social views against animal testing have accelerated development of reliable alternative tests for predicting skin sensitizing potential and potency of many chemicals. Lately, a test battery integrated with different in vitro tests has been suggested as a better approach than just one in vitro test for replacing animal tests. In this study, we created a dataset of 101 test chemicals with LLNA, human cell line activation test (h-CLAT), direct peptide reactivity assay (DPRA) and in silico prediction system. The results of these tests were converted into scores of 0-2 and the sum of individual scores provided the accuracy of 85% and 71% for the potential and potency prediction, compared with LLNA. Likewise, the straightforward tiered system of h-CLAT and DPRA provided the accuracy of 86% and 73%. Additionally, the tiered system showed a higher sensitivity (96%) compared with h-CLAT alone, indicating that sensitizers would be detected with higher reliability in the tiered system. Our data not only demonstrates that h-CLAT can be part of a test battery with other methods but also supports the practical utility of a tiered system when h-CLAT and DPRA are the first screening methods for skin sensitization.

Prediction of skin sensitization potency of chemicals by human Cell Line Activation Test (h-CLAT) and an attempt at classifying skin sensitization potency.

The human Cell Line Activation Test (h-CLAT), an in vitro skin sensitization test, is based on the augmentation of CD86 and CD54 expression in THP-1 cells following exposure to chemicals. The h-CLAT was found to be capable of determining the hazard of skin sensitization. In contrast, the local lymph node assay (LLNA), widely used as a stand-alone method in Europe and US, identifies the same hazard, but also classifies the potency by using the estimated concentration of SI=3 (EC3). In this study, several values calculated from the h-CLAT data were evaluated for its correlation to the LLNA EC3 determination. A statistically significant correlation was observed between h-CLAT concentration providing a cell viability of 75% (CV75), h-CLAT estimated concentration of RFI=150 for CD86 (EC150), and for CD54 (EC200) with LLNAs EC3. From EC150 and EC200, a minimum induction threshold (MIT) was determined as the smaller of either EC150 or EC200. MIT showed a correlation with EC3 (R=0.638). Also, MIT had an approximate 80% accuracy for sub-categories of the globally harmonized system (GHS) when a tentative threshold of 13 μg/mL was used. From these data, the h-CLAT values may be one of the useful tools to predict the allergic potency of chemicals.

Predictive performance for human skin sensitizing potential of the human cell line activation test (h-CLAT)

Background. Recent changes in regulatory restrictions and social opposition to animal toxicology experiments have driven the need for reliable in vitro tests for predicting the skin sensitizing potentials of a wide variety of industrial chemicals. Previously, we developed the human cell line activation test (h‐CLAT) as a cell‐based assay to predict the skin sensitizing potential of chemicals, and showed the correspondence between the h‐CLAT and the murine local lymph node assay results.

Development of a new in vitro skin sensitization assay (Epidermal Sensitization Assay; EpiSensA) using reconstructed human epidermis.

Recent changes in regulatory requirements and social views on animal testing have accelerated the development of reliable alternative tests for predicting skin sensitizing potential of chemicals. In this study, we aimed to develop a new in vitro skin sensitization assay using reconstructed human epidermis, RhE model, which is expected to have broader applicability domain rather than existing in vitro assays. Microarray analysis revealed that the expression of five genes (ATF3, DNAJB4, GCLM, HSPA6 and HSPH1) related to cellular stress response were significantly up-regulated in RhE model after 6h treatment with representative skin sensitizers, 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene and oxazolone, but not a non-sensitizer, benzalkonium chloride. The predictive performance of five genes was examined with eight skin sensitizers (e.g., cinnamic aldehyde), four non-sensitizers (e.g., sodium lauryl sulfate) and four pre-/pro-haptens (e.g., p-phenylenediamine, isoeugenol). When the positive criteria were set to obtain the highest accuracy with the animal testing (LLNA), ATF3, DNAJB4 and GCLM exhibited a high predictive accuracy (100%, 93.8% and 87.5%, respectively). All tested pre-/pro-haptens were correctly predicted by both ATF3 and DNAJB4. These results suggested that the RhE-based assay, termed epidermal sensitization assay (EpiSensA), could be an useful skin sensitization assay with a broad applicability domain including pre-/pro-haptens.

Effects of dietary alpha-linolenic acid-enriched diacylglycerol oil on embryo/fetal development in rats

Recent studies suggest that diets supplemented with alpha-linolenic acid (ALA)-enriched diacylglycerol (DAG) oil provide potential health benefits in preventing or managing obesity. However, available safety information about reproductive and developmental toxicities of ALA-DAG oil is limited. This study was conducted to clarify the effect, if any, of ALA-DAG oil on embryo-fetal development, following maternal exposure during the critical period of major organogenesis. ALA-DAG oil was administered via gavage to pre-mated female Sprague Dawley rats from gestation day 6 through 19, at dose levels of 0, 1.25, 2.5, and 5.0 mL/kg/day (equivalent to 0, 1149, 2325, and 4715 mg/kg/day, respectively), with total volume adjusted to 5 mL/kg/day with rapeseed oil. All females survived to the scheduled necropsy. There were no treatment-related changes in clinical or internal findings, maternal body weights, feed consumption, intrauterine growth, survival, and number of implantations. No ALA-DAG oil-related fetal malformations or developmental variations were noted. A maternal maximum tolerated dose for ALA-DAG oil could not be achieved in this study. Based on these results, a dose level of 5.0 mL/kg (4715 mg/kg/day), the highest dose tested, was considered as the no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) for both maternal and developmental toxicity.

A 90-day repeated-dose toxicity study of dietary alpha linolenic acid-enriched diacylglycerol oil in rats

ABSTRACT Diets supplemented with alpha‐linolenic acid (ALA)‐enriched diacylglycerol (DAG) oil—which mainly consists of oleic and linolenic, linoleic acids—have potential health benefits in terms of preventing or managing obesity. Although safety of DAG oil has been extensively investigated, toxicity of ALA‐DAG oil has not been well understood. Hence, the present study was conducted to clarify the potential adverse effects, if any, of ALA‐DAG oil in rats (10/sex/group) fed diets containing 1.375%, 2.75%, or 5.5% ALA‐DAG oil for 90 days. Compared to control rats fed rapeseed oil or ALA‐triacylglycerol oil (flaxseed oil), rats receiving ALA‐DAG oil did not reveal any toxicologically significant treatment‐related changes as evaluated by clinical signs, functional observational battery, body weight, food consumption, ophthalmology, urinalysis, hematology, clinical chemistry, organ weight, necropsy and histopathology. The no observed adverse effect levels for dietary exposure to ALA‐DAG oil for male and female rats were 2916 and 3326mg/kg body weight/day, respectively, the highest dose tested. The findings from this study suggest that consumption of ALA‐DAG oil is unlikely to cause adverse effects. HIGHLIGHTSThis study was investigated to clarify the toxicological potential of ALA‐DAG oil for 90 days.ALA‐DAG oil did not reveal any toxicologically significant treatment‐related changes.The no observed adverse effect levels for male and female rats were 2916 and 3326mg/kg body weight/day, respectively.

Predictive performance of the Short Time Exposure test for identifying eye irritation potential of chemical mixtures.

The Short Time Exposure (STE) test is an in vitro eye irritation test based on the cytotoxicity in SIRC cells (rabbit corneal cell line) following a 5 min treatment of chemicals. This study evaluated the predictive performance of the STE test to identify the globally harmonized system (GHS) Not Classified category and other irritant categories (i.e., GHS Category 1 or 2) when used to test 40 chemical mixtures that included irritants. The STE test correctly identified 30 tested mixtures classified as GHS irritant categories and 5 out of 10 tested mixtures classified as GHS Not Classified. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictivity, negative predictivity, and overall accuracy of the STE test were 100% (30/30), 50% (5/10), 86% (25/30), 100% (5/5), and 88% (35/40), respectively. These predictive performances were comparative to or greater than those in other in vitro eye irritation tests that have been accepted as test guideline by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. This suggests that the STE test has sufficient predictivity for identifying the eye irritation potential of chemical mixtures. Since no false negatives in this study were found, this indicates that the STE test is applicable as a part of the bottom-up approach.

Predictive performance and inter-laboratory reproducibility in assessing eye irritation potential of water- and oil-soluble mixtures using the Short Time Exposure test method

The Short Time Exposure (STE) test method is an alternative method for assessing eye irritation potential using Statens Seruminstitut Rabbit Cornea cells and has been adopted as test guideline 491 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Its good predictive performance in identifying the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) No Category (NC) or Irritant Category has been demonstrated in evaluations of water-soluble substances, oil-soluble substances, and water-soluble mixtures. However, the predictive performance for oil-soluble mixtures was not evaluated. Twenty-four oil-soluble mixtures were evaluated using the STE test method. The GHS NC or Irritant Category of 22 oil-soluble mixtures were consistent with that of a Reconstructed human Cornea-like Epithelium (RhCE) test method. Inter-laboratory reproducibility was then confirmed using 20 water- and oil-soluble mixtures blind-coded. The concordance in GHS NC or Irritant Category among four laboratories was 90%-100%. In conclusion, the concordance in comparison with the results of RhCE test method using 24 oil-soluble mixtures and inter-laboratory reproducibility using 20 water- and oil-soluble mixtures blind-coded were good, indicating that the STE test method is a suitable alternative for predicting the eye irritation potential of both substances and mixtures.