Skin sensitizer identification by IL-8 secretion and CD86 expression on THP-1 cells.

Substantial progress has been made in the development of alternative methods for skin sensitization in the last decade in several countries around the world. Brazil is experiencing an increasing concern about using animals for product development, since the publication of the Law 9605/1998, which prohibits the use of animals when an alternative method is available. In this way, an in vitro test to evaluate allergenic potential is a pressing need.

Probabilistic hazard assessment for skin sensitization potency by dose-response modeling using feature elimination instead of quantitative structure-activity relationships.

Supervised learning methods promise to improve integrated testing strategies (ITS), but must be adjusted to handle high dimensionality and dose-response data. ITS approaches are currently fueled by the increasing mechanistic understanding of adverse outcome pathways (AOP) and the development of tests reflecting these mechanisms. Simple approaches to combine skin sensitization data sets, such as weight of evidence, fail due to problems in information redundancy and high dimensionality.

The sensitivity of the KeratinoSens™ assay to evaluate plant extracts: a pilot study.

Several tests to assess skin sensitization hazard are in peer-review for pre-validation. These tests, as well as the animal tests they aim to replace, were developed (and validated) for the testing of pure substances. However, in the cosmetic field, active ingredients are often mixtures from natural sources.

Improved procedures for in vitro skin irritation testing of sticky and greasy natural botanicals.

Skin irritation evaluation is an important endpoint for the safety assessment of cosmetic ingredients required by various regulatory authorities for notification and/or import of test substances. The present study was undertaken to investigate possible protocol adaptations of the currently validated in vitro skin irritation test methods based on reconstructed human epidermis (RhE) for the testing of plant extracts and natural botanicals. Due to their specific physico-chemical properties, such as lipophilicity, sticky/buttery-like texture, waxy/creamy foam characteristics, normal washing procedures can lead to an incomplete removal of these materials and/or to mechanical damage to the tissues, resulting in an impaired prediction of the true skin irritation potential of the materials.

Successful micronucleus testing with the EPI/001 3D reconstructed epidermis model: preliminary findings.

Currently, the cosmetics industry relies on the results of in vitro genotoxicity tests to assess the safety of chemicals. Although the cytokinesis-block micronucleus (CBMN) test for the detection of cells that have divided once is routinely used and currently accepted by regulatory agencies, it has some limitations. Reconstituted human epidermis (RHE) is widely used in safety assessments because its physiological properties resemble those of the skin, and because it allows testing of substances such as hydrophobic compounds.