COMPUTER-PROGRAMS FOR CALCULATION OF MEDIAN EFFECTIVE DOSE (LD(50) ORED(50)) USING THE METHOD OF MOVING AVERAGE INTERPOLATION

Over the past 40 years, toxicologists and pharmacologists have used ta bles published by Weil for the determination of LD(50) (or ED(50)) val ues and their associated 95% confidence intervals. With the advances i n computer technology, it is now common for investigators to have pers onal computers in their laboratories. Therefore, two identical program s were developed for determination of the LD(50) (or ED(50)) which may be run on a personal computer. One of these programs was written in B ASIC, and the other in FORTRAN. The programs are easy and rapid to use , requiring minimum computer hardware and little, if any, knowledge of programming. They also offer more user flexibility than the previousl y published tables of Weil, in that there are fewer restrictions on th e number of animals and number of dosage levels used in an experiment. The output of the programs may be typed on the screen of a computer m onitor, and may be sent to a printer. The two programs calculate the L D(50) and 95% confidence intervals for the LD(50). These programs shou ld be valuable for many investigators.