| Popis: |
In vitro tests play an increasingly important role in the diagnosis, prophylaxis, and treatment of diseases and add immense value in the understanding of cellular and functional aspects of disease processes for better therapeutic interventions. In vitro studies have become an integral part of early drug development process. There has been progress in the development of in vitro test using test systems of variant levels (i.e., from whole cells to isolated enzymes) for toxicity evaluations. Due to the complexity of organisms of different species, it is evident that no single in vitro test can represent the entire spectrum of toxic potency of chemicals. This demonstrates the industry's commitment to the reduction, refinement, and replacement of whole-animal in vivo tests whenever possible. However, the in vitro environment in which the cell culture is grown and from the source these test systems and related material is derived from is also ideal for the proliferation of microorganisms. Any oversight on the safety precautions related to in vitro handling techniques and inability of a scientist to recognize the possible factors can be hazardous. While not selecting the appropriate material for the experiment not only can ruin the experiment but can also cause deleterious effects on the health of the scientist. The focus of this chapter is to provide an overview of fundamental safety issues associated with in vitro toxicity assays toward safety assessment and appropriate mitigating efforts to be considered for safety in in vitro laboratories. |
