Comparative study of epithelial and fibroblastic cell lines as an alternative cytotoxicity test to the Draize method

Several methods are being used with considerable advantage as alterantives to the Draize test, although some technical difficulties still persist. Thi s work compared the sensitivity of HeLa and NCTC L 929 cells to evaluate th e cytotoxicity of shampoos used by adults and children (undiluted and dilut ed to 25, 5, 1, and 0.1%), and eye drops and their containers and surfactan ts (diluted to 30, 10, 1, and 0.1%). Nondiluted adult shampoos and their 25 and 5% dilutions were cytoxic for both cell lines. When diluted to 1%, onl y one of the shampoos was noncytotoxic, whereas among those diluted to 0.1% , only one was cytotoxic. Children's shampoos were cytotoxic when not dilut ed or diluted to 25%. From those diluted to 5%, only one was noncytotoxic f or both cell lines. The cytotoxic tests showed that the eye drops and their containers were noncytotoxic. Surfactants were cytotoxic when diluted to 3 0 and 10% and noncytotoxic when diluted to 1 and 0.1%. An excellent correla tion (r = 0.95) was demonstrated between the sensitivity of the HeLa and NC TC L929 cells in the evaluation of cytotoxicity reactions.