H. Seibert et al., COMPARATIVE CELL TOXICOLOGY - THE BASIS FOR IN-VITRO TOXICITY TESTING, ATLA. Alternatives to laboratory animals, 22(3), 1994, pp. 168-174
If ''cell toxicology'' is defined as the discipline aimed at studying
the general principles of chemical interference with cellular structur
es and/or functions, then ''comparative cell toxicology'' may be defin
ed as the study of the variety of responses to xenobiotics using: (a)
different endpoints within one cell type; (b) cell types from differen
t tissues from one species; and (c) homologous cell types from differe
nt species. If the full potential of in vitro models for toxicity test
ing is to be realised and the scientific basis for hazard assessment i
mproved, then comparative cell toxicological approaches have to be dev
eloped further. In the present paper, an approach using different in v
itro systems is described. The approach is aimed at the assessment of
the basic toxicological characteristics of chemicals.