A rapid cell culture technique for assessing the toxicity of detergent-based products in vitro as a possible screen for eye irritancy in vivo.

It is generally accepted that the Draize rabbit eye irritation test has several disadvantages and inadequacies when used as an indicator for potential irritancy of detergent-based commercial products. In the search for a possible in vitro screen, it was decided to use mouse LS cells in suspension, taking 50% cell death (CD50) after exposure to the product for 4 h as the endpoint. This result for eleven samples was compared with rabbit eye irritation data ranked on an arbitrary classification of mild, moderate and severe. All samples with a CD50 less than 0.5 mg ml-1 were severe eye irritants while, with one exception, all those with a CD50 greater than 1.0 mg ml-1 were mild irritants. Samples between these two cytotoxicity levels were, in general, moderately irritant to the rabbit eye. It would appear that the present in vitro test is a possible screen for the irritancy of detergent-based products.