Test No. 402: Acute Dermal Toxicity
This method provides information on health hazard likely to arise from short-term
exposure to a test chemical by dermal route. Test chemicals should not be administered
at doses that are known to cause marked pain and distress due to potential corrosive
or severely irritant actions.
Groups of animals, of a single sex, are exposed via the dermal route to the test chemical
in a stepwise procedure using the appropriate fixed doses. The initial dose level
is selected at the concentration expected to produce clear signs of toxicity without
causing severe toxic effects or mortality. Further groups of animals may be tested
at higher or lower fixed doses, depending on the presence or absence of signs of toxicity
or mortality. This procedure continues until the dose causing toxicity or no more
than one death is identified, or when no effects are seen at the highest dose or when
deaths occur at the lowest dose. Subsequently, observations of effects and deaths
are made. Animals which die during the test are necropsied, and at the conclusion
of the test the surviving animals are sacrificed and necropsied.
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 October 09, 2017Also available in: French
In series:OECD Guidelines for the Testing of Chemicals, Section 4: Health Effectsview more titles