Archive
Navigating the Claim Substantiation Maze in Cosmetics Industry
June 15, 2017Read this article by IIVS study director Dr. Gertrude-Emilia Costin and biologist Asha Shravanthi Pidathala in the June 2017 issue of Eurocosmetics. The article examines modern, relevant, and reliable in vitro testing strategies using pigmented tissue models that assess the capacity of ingredients and formulations that impact skin tone. ...
Toxicity Testing: Read Between the Lines
April 13, 2017Skin toxicity testing was the focus of a full-day seminar held during In-Cosmetics 2017. Attendees learned about everything from skin absorption and metabolism, to cytotoxicity, phototoxicity and sensitization. IIVS Study Director, Dr. Tinashe Ruwona, presented on integrated testing strategies to evaluate the skin sensitization potential of cosmetics. However, the biggest take-away from the seminar seemed to rest on how well the results of a study are understood. Read the full article. ...
IIVS Attends In-Cosmetics Global
April 4, 2017IIVS President, Erin Hill, and Study Director, Tinashe Ruwona are attending the In-Cosmetics Global meeting, April 4-6, in London. Dr. Ruwona, who leads our skin sensitization screening program, presented during the Skin Toxicology Workshop. His presentation, "Integrated Testing Strategies for Assessing the Skin Sensitization Potential of Cosmetics", Dr. Ruwona explores the various test methods and how best to combine them to ensure consumer safety. Read more....
Addressing the Assignment of US EPA Hazard Categories for Dermal Safety by a Revised Prediction Model of the Validated In Vitro Skin Irritation Test (OECD TG 439)
March 30, 2017One of the current goals of the United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Pesticide Programs (US EPA OPP) is to replace by non-animal testing methods as many of the endpoints of the battery of acute toxicity tests known as the “6-pack” as possible. One of the “6-pack” tests is the Draize rabbit test for dermal irritation. We investigated whether the validated in vitro Skin Irritation Test (SIT, OECD TG 439) can be used to determine US EPA OPP dermal...
The 3D Human Reconstructed Skin Micronucleus Assay (RSMN) Using the EpiDerm Tissue: Validation and Application to the Safety Assessment of Cosmetics Ingredients
March 30, 2017Regulatory restrictions on animal use have increased the reliance of risk assessors and regulators on in vitro test systems. Ideally, tissue-based assays could replace the animal studies as follow-up tools to verify results from standard in vitro assays. The RSMN assay combines the EpiDerm™ 3D reconstructed skin (RS) model with the micronucleus (MN) assay to provide a more realistic model for evaluating the genotoxic potential of dermally applied chemicals or products, such as cosmetics....
In Vitro Assessment of Skin Irritation Potential of Surfactant-based Formulations by Using a 3-D Skin Reconstructed Tissue Model and Cytokine Response
January 24, 2017The personal care industry is focused on developing safe, more efficacious, and increasingly milder products, that are routinely undergoing preclinical and clinical testing before becoming available for consumer use on skin. In vitro systems based on skin reconstructed equivalents are now established for the preclinical assessment of product irritation potential and as alternative testing methods to the classic Draize rabbit skin irritation test. We have used the 3-D EpiDerm™ model system to evaluate tissue viability and primary cytokine interleukin-1α release...
Webinar: How GLPs Enhance the Quality of Regulated and Non-Regulated Toxicology
October 18, 2016This one-hour webinar, led by IIVS Director of Quality and Compliance, introduces some of the concepts of Good Laboratory Practices (GLPs) designed to promote study and data integrity within an in vitro toxicology framework. Applying these concepts within your own laboratory should aid in production of robust, repeatable studies. View Slides...
Skin Corrosion Test (OECD 431)
September 1, 2016Skin Corrosion in the regulatory hazard classification and labeling context is defined as the production of irreversible damage to skin, generally evident as necrosis through the epidermis and into the dermis, following a defined chemical exposure. The In Vitro Skin Corrosion Test is an in vitro, non-animal test designed to identify those chemicals and mixtures capable of inducing skin corrosion (UN GHS Category 11), and in some cases to partially subcategorize corrosives into UN GHS Sub-Categories 1A or 1B and...
In vitro Phototoxicity – Reconstructed Human Epidermis Phototoxicity test (OECD 498)
August 24, 2016The 3-D Phototoxicity assay uses reconstructed human epidermal (RhE) tissue constructs to evaluate the dermal phototoxicity potential of a test material. Toxicity is determined by measuring cytotoxicity [based on the relative conversion of MTT (3-[4,5 – dimethylthiazol-2-yl] – 2,5 – diphenyltetrazolium bromide)] in cultures treated with the test material in the presence and absence of UVA light. An advantage of using 3-D tissues to evaluate phototoxicity potential is that, unlike the 96-well phototoxicity assay, test materials are applied topically. As such, solids, undiluted...
3T3 Phototoxicity (OECD 432)
August 24, 2016The 3T3 Neutral Red Uptake (NRU) Phototoxicity assay is a 96-well cytotoxicity-based assay that utilizes BALB/c 3T3 mouse fibroblasts to measure the concentration-dependent reduction in neutral red uptake by the cells after exposure to a test material in the presence and absence of UVA light. Duplicate 96-well plates containing a monolayer of 3T3 cells are exposed to serial dilutions of a test material. One of the plates is exposed to 5 J/cm2 of UVA while the other plate is kept...