• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.181-186
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• 2017

This paper aimed to evaluate the results of alternative acute toxicity test on 83 wastewater samples. Each sample was tested by traditional method (using laboratory cultured D. magna as a test organism) and alternative method (using Toxikit which can be purchased from a specialized company). The relationship between Lab. culture toxicity and Toxkits toxicity indicated good relation ($r^2=0.84$, p<0.01, n = 83). Number of samples which showed a small difference of lower than 0.5 between two test methods were 52 and they account for 63 percent of collected samples. In addition, these 52 samples had a lower average toxicity of TU 0.5 (Lab. culture method) and TU 0.45 (Toxkits method). Whereas samples which indicated big difference of test results between two methods, had a tendency to show higher toxicity. From these results, alternative toxicity test method could be applied to the official test method, if samples would have a lower toxicity less than TU 2. Also, Toxikit standard toxicant test results indicated $EC_{50}$ values between 0.93 and 1.68 mg/L and these results were considered as valid for quality control standard.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.302-310
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• 2020

Botulinum toxins are neurotoxic modular proteins composed of a heavy chain and a light chain connected by a disulfide bond and are produced by Clostridium botulinum. Although lethally toxic, botulinum toxin in low doses is clinically effective in numerous medical conditions, including muscle spasticity, strabismus, hyperactive urinary bladder, excessive sweating, and migraine. Globally, several companies are now producing products containing botulinum toxin for medical and cosmetic purposes, including the reduction of facial wrinkles. To test the efficacy and toxicity of botulinum toxin, animal tests have been solely and widely used, resulting in the inevitable sacrifice of hundreds of animals. Hence, alternative methods are urgently required to replace animals in botulinum toxin testing. Here, the various alternative methods developed to test the toxicity and efficacy of botulinum toxins have been briefly reviewed and future perspectives have been detailed.

• Proceedings of the National Institute of Ecology of the Republic of Korea
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.49-62
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• 2023

Phthalates are animal carcinogens. Potassium hydrogen phthalate (KHP), which has the least complicated structure among phthalates, is used for the analysis of total organic carbon and formaldehyde. However, its toxicity has not been confirmed. A 24-hour acute toxicity test was performed using Daphnia magna, a water flea used to evaluate aquatic toxicity owing to its high sensitivity. The lowest observed effect concentration of KHP was found to be 240 mg/L. The effects of phosphorus, nitrogen, and Cr(6+), which are able to be discharged along with KHP, were also confirmed using tests. At 240 mg/L KHP, toxicity increased as phosphorus, nitrogen, and Cr(6+) increased. In addition, tests were performed to confirm the half maximal effective concentration of KHP. Through 10 test repetitions, the average ecotoxicity value was found to be 0.3, the average half maximal effective concentration was 327.75 mg/L, and the coefficient of variation (%) was 3.16%; because the latter value is lower than 25%, which is what is generally suggested for the water pollution standard method, the reproducibility of the tests is sufficient to replace the existing standard reference toxicity test that uses potassium dichromate. In addition, the half maximum effective concentration of potassium hydrogen phthalate is approximately 218 times more than that of potassium dichromate; therefore, toxicity is relatively low. In conclusion, KHP is a feasible alternative to the highly toxic potassium dichromate for performing the standard reference toxicity test.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.31
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• pp.26.1-26.9
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• 2016

Objectives Korea's Act on the Registration and Evaluation of Chemicals (K-REACH) was enacted for the protection of human health and the environment in 2015. Considering that about 2000 new substances are introduced annually across the globe, the extent of animal testing requirement could be overwhelming unless regulators and companies work proactively to institute and enforce global best practices to replace, reduce or refine animal use. In this review, the way to reduce the animal use for K-REACH is discussed. Methods Background of the enforcement of the K-REACH and its details was reviewed along with the papers and regulatory documents regarding the limitation of animal experiments and its alternatives in order to discuss the regulatory adoption of alternative tests. Results Depending on the tonnage of the chemical used, the data required ranges from acute and other short-term studies for a single exposure route to testing via multiple exposure routes and costly, longer-term studies such as a full two-generation reproducibility toxicity. The European Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals regulation provides for mandatory sharing of vertebrate test data to avoid unnecessary duplication of animal use and test costs, and obligation to revise data requirements and test guidelines "as soon as possible" after relevant, validated replacement, reduction or refinement (3R) methods become available. Furthermore, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development actively accepts alternative animal tests and 3R to chemical toxicity tests. Conclusions Alternative tests which are more ethical and efficient than animal experiments should be widely used to assess the toxicity of chemicals for K-REACH registration. The relevant regulatory agencies will have to make efforts to actively adopt and uptake new alternative tests and 3R to K-REACH.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 2003.10b
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• pp.32-32
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• 2003

Recent, a problem about an animal-experimentation were seriously stated with bright development of human science. Safety of chemical materials is evaluated on the basis of the various toxicity data that used an animal-experimentation. However, an toxicity test used by animal is covered with limit and criticism. A problem of toxicity test by animal can try to approach in ethic a few side and usefulness.(omitted)

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.762-767
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• 2012

The ecotoxicity assessment of nanomaterials (NMs) in the environment is actively conducted throughout the world because of the concerns about their potential risk from usage and release into the environment, as well as their unique physiochemical properties. Ecotoxicity tests for NMs have been conducted using various species and methods; however, in spite of these efforts, the characteristics and toxicity of NMs have not been defined. The fish embryo toxicity test (FET) has been conducted extensively to evaluate the toxicity of NMs as an alternative to a whole-body test in fish. In this study, we collected and analyzed the trends of nanotoxicity on the early development of freshwater fish. The model nanomaterials are carbon NMs ($C_{60},\;C_{70},\;C_{60}$(OH)n and carbon nanotube). Their adverse effects were extensively investigated based on the properties of NMs, test species, and diverse exposure conditions.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2016

The National Toxicology Program Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods (NICEATM) provides validation support for US Federal agencies and the US Tox21 interagency consortium, an interagency collaboration that is using high throughput screening (HTS) and other advanced approaches to better understand and predict chemical hazards to humans and the environment. The use of HTS data from assays relevant to the estrogen receptor signaling data pathway is used as an example of how HTS data can be combined with computational modeling to meet the needs of US agencies. As brief summary of US efforts in the areas of biologics testing, acute toxicity, and skin sensitization will also be provided.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.943-953
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• 2012

Because of their unique properties, nano-sized metallic nanomaterials (NMs) have been used in extensive applications of biomedicine, electronics, optics, engineering, and personal care products. Accordingly, with the increasing release of NMs into the environment, numerous studies of nanoecotoxicity have been conducted. Fish embryo toxicity test (FET) has many benefits in evaluating toxicity of NMs as an alternative to a whole-body test in fish. In this study, we collected and analyzed the toxicity studies of metallic NMs on freshwater fish embryos. Most studies have demonstrated that metallic NMs are highly toxic during the early development of fish embryos. However, it should be noted that the results for the same NMs on the same test species show variation due to differences in the size or surface properties of the test NMs and exposure conditions. For the safe use of metallic NMs, we need to analyze their effects based on their properties, test species, environmental media, and diverse conditions.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.8-13
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• 2014

This study evaluated in vitro cytotoxicity of 5 pesticides, including 2 herbicides, 2 germicides, and an insecticide, as an alternative to the fish acute toxicity test. The in vitro cytotoxicity was tested using a neutral red uptake (NRU) assay with epithelioma papulosum cyprini (EPC) cells that originated from the epidermal tissue of Cyprinus carpio (common carp). An in vivo fish acute toxicity test was conducted according to OECD Test Guideline No. 203 using Aphyocypris chinensis (Chinese bleak), Oryzias latipes (Japanese medaka), and C. carpio. The results showed that the sensitivity of the cell viability assay for the pesticides was similar to the fish acute test in ranking order despite having approximately 10 times less absolute sensitivity. The $r^2$ correlation values were calculated as 0.38 (p = 0.26), 0.76 (p = 0.05) and 0.90 (p = 0.01) for A. chinensis, O. latipes, and C. carpio, respectively. These results suggested that the potential of EPC cell viability assay as an alternative to the fish acute toxicity test due to their good correlation and NRU assay is expected to serve as a useful tool for predicting acute fish lethality for pesticides if further studies with a large set of pesticides are conducted.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.99-106
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• 2010

We have investigated the rheological behaviours of emulsions containing polymers. The polymers used in this study were polyacrylamide and carboxy vinyl polymer. The emulsion with polyacrylamide shows better prior preference than that with carboxy vinyl polymer on the skin texture. In the toxicity test, such as, LLNA cell toxicity, skin organ culture and human patch test, polyacrylamide was the appropriate materials for the cosmetics. The viscosity of polyacrylamide shows maximum value in neutral pH and good stability against temperature. The decreasing effect of viscosity against salt was not good enough but showed a better result than that of carboxy vinyl polymer. Two times the amount of polyacrylamide should be used for the formation of a similar viscosity of carboxy vinyl polymer. Yield value of polyacrylamide was low and the effect for the stabilizing emulsions was also low.