Test No. 433: Acute Inhalation Toxicity: Fixed Concentration Procedure
This method provides information on health hazard likely to arise from short-term
exposure to a test chemical by inhalation.
It is a principle of the method that only moderately toxic concentrations are used
so that ‘evident toxicity’, rather than death/moribundity is used as an endpoint,
and concentrations that are expected to be lethal are avoided.
Groups of animals of a single sex are exposed for a short period of time to the test
chemical in a stepwise procedure using the appropriate fixed concentrations for vapours,
dusts/mists (aerosols) or gases. Further groups of animals may be tested at higher
concentrations in the absence of signs of evident toxicity or mortality at lower concentrations.
This procedure continues until the concentration causing evident toxicity or no more
than one death/ moribund animal is identified, or when no effects are seen at the
highest concentration or when deaths/ moribundity occur at the lowest concentration.
A total of five animals of one sex will normally be used for each concentration level
investigated. The results of this study include: measurements (weighing at least weekly)
and daily detailed observations, as well as gross necropsy. The method provides information
on the hazardous properties and allows the substance to be classified for acute toxicity
according to the Globally Harmonised System of classification and labelling of chemicals.
Published on June 27, 2018Also available in: French
In series:OECD Guidelines for the Testing of Chemicals, Section 4: Health Effectsview more titles