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The lymphatic system, or lymphoid system, is an organ system in vertebrates that is part of the immune system, and complementary to the circulatory system. It comprises of a large network of lymphatic vessels, lymph nodes, lymphatic or lymphoid organs, and lymphoid tissues. The vessels carry a clear fluid called lymph back towards the heart, for re-circulation.
A lymph node, or lymph gland, is a kidney-shaped organ of the lymphatic system, and the adaptive immune system. A large number of lymph nodes are linked throughout the body by the lymphatic vessels. They are major sites of lymphocytes that include B and T cells. Lymph nodes are important for the proper functioning of the immune system, acting as filters for foreign particles including cancer cells, but have no detoxification function.
The Draize test is an acute toxicity test devised in 1944 by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) toxicologists John H. Draize and Jacob M. Spines. Initially used for testing cosmetics, the procedure involves applying 0.5 mL or 0.5 g of a test substance to the eye or skin of a restrained, conscious animal, and then leaving it for set amount of time before rinsing it out and recording its effects. The animals are observed for up to 14 days for signs of erythema and edema in the skin test, and redness, swelling, discharge, ulceration, hemorrhaging, cloudiness, or blindness in the tested eye. The test subject is commonly an albino rabbit, though other species are used too, including dogs. The animals are euthanized after testing if the test renders irreversible damage to the eye or skin. Animals may be re-used for testing purposes if the product tested causes no permanent damage. Animals are typically reused after a "wash out" period during which all traces of the tested product are allowed to disperse from the test site.
Lymph is the fluid that flows through the lymphatic system, a system composed of lymph vessels (channels) and intervening lymph nodes whose function, like the venous system, is to return fluid from the tissues to the central circulation. At the origin of the fluid-return process, interstitial fluid—the fluid between the cells in all body tissues—enters the lymph capillaries. This lymphatic fluid is then transported via progressively larger lymphatic vessels through lymph nodes, where substances are removed by tissue lymphocytes and circulating lymphocytes are added to the fluid, before emptying ultimately into the right or the left subclavian vein, where it mixes with central venous blood.
A radioallergosorbent test (RAST) is a blood test using radioimmunoassay test to detect specific IgE antibodies in order to determine the substances a subject is allergic to. This is different from a skin allergy test, which determines allergy by the reaction of a person's skin to different substances.
Phototoxicity, also called photoirritation, is a chemically induced skin irritation, requiring light, that does not involve the immune system. It is a type of photosensitivity.
Allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) is a form of contact dermatitis that is the manifestation of an allergic response caused by contact with a substance; the other type being irritant contact dermatitis (ICD).
Kurloff cells were described as mononuclear cells in the peripheral blood and organs of the guinea pig, capybara, paca, agouti and cavie. The Kurloff cell contains a characteristic proteoglycan-containing inclusion body. In the guinea pig, Kurloff cells are more numerous in the adult female than the adult male. A marked increase in the number of circulating Kurloff cells is present in the peripheral blood during pregnancy and after estrogen treatment in male and female animals. A relatively smaller number of cells take place in immature, non-pregnant, and non-estrogen-treated animals. The exact function of Kurloff cells remains unknown, but it has some of the characteristics of both monocytes and lymphocytes. In guinea-pigs, it has been proposed that Kurloff cells mainly involve in the function of the immune system, such as acting as a natural killer cell and preventing damage to the trophoblast by maternal defensive cells. Also, Kurloff cells present antibody-dependent cytotoxic activity in vitro.
Tuftsin is a tetrapeptide located in the Fc-domain of the heavy chain of immunoglobulin G. It has an immunostimulatory effect. It is named for Tufts University where it was first discovered in 1983.
A micronucleus test is a test used in toxicological screening for potential genotoxic compounds. The assay is now recognized as one of the most successful and reliable assays for genotoxic carcinogens, i.e., carcinogens that act by causing genetic damage and is recommended by the OECD guideline for the testing of chemicals. There are two major versions of this test, one in vivo and the other in vitro.
Toxicology testing, also known as safety assessment, or toxicity testing, is the process of determining the degree to which a substance of interest negatively impacts the normal biological functions of an organism, given a certain exposure duration, route of exposure, and substance concentration. Toxicology testing is often conducted by researchers who follow established toxicology test protocol for a certain substance, mode of exposure, exposure environment, duration of exposure, or for a particular organism of interest, or for a particular developmental stage of interest. Toxicology testing is commonly conducted during preclinical development for a substance intended for human exposure. Stages of in silico, in vitro and in vivo research are conducted to determine safe exposure doses in model organisms. If necessary, the next phase of research involves human toxicology testing during a first-in-man study. Toxicology testing may be conducted by the pharmaceutical industry, biotechnology companies, contract research organizations, or environmental scientists.
MELISA is a blood test that detects type IV hypersensitivity to metals, chemicals, environmental toxins and molds. Type IV hypersensitivity reactions, particularly to nickel, are well established and may affect 20% of the population.
The Guinea pig maximisation test (GPMT) is an in vivo test to screen for substances that cause human skin sensitisation. It was first proposed by B. Magnusson and Albert Kligman in 1969 and described in their 1970 book Allergic Contact Dermatitis in the Guinea Pig
The Buehler test is an in vivo test to screen for substances that cause human skin sensitisation. It was first proposed by Edwin Vernon Buehler in 1965 and further explained in 1980.
The Human maximisation test (HMT) is a test method for testing for contact allergens. It was first developed by Albert Kligman in 1966 and updated by Kligman and William Epstein in 1975. The first paper appeared 1966 and was a citation classic in 1985.
Tetramethyl acetyloctahydronaphthalenes is a synthetic ketone fragrance also known as OTNE and by other commercial trade names such as: Iso E Super, Iso Gamma Super, Anthamber, Amber Fleur, Boisvelone, Iso Ambois, Amberlan, Iso Velvetone, Orbitone, Amberonne. It is a synthetic woody odorant and is used as a fragrance ingredient in perfumes, laundry products and cosmetics.
Mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) is a test used by pharmaceutical and biotech organizations to show the safety of a drug or implantable material. It is commonly used as part of the FDA clearance process. Put simply, it is mixing populations of T-lymphocytes together, and measuring the reaction that occurs. Technically, it is an ex-vivo cellular immune assay that occurs between two allogeneic lymphocyte populations. In a one-way MLR, only one lymphocyte population can respond or proliferate. In a two-way MLR, both populations can proliferate. MLR’s are performed to assess how T-cells react to external stimuli. T cells are a type of white blood cell that scans for cellular abnormalities and infections. They are essential to human immunity.
E-SCREEN is a cell proliferation assay based on the enhanced proliferation of human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) in the presence of estrogen active substances. The E-SCREEN test is a tool to easily and rapidly assess estrogenic activity of suspected xenoestrogens. This bioassay measures estrogen-induced increase of the number of human breast cancer cell, which is biologically equivalent to the increase of mitotic activity in tissues of the genital tract. It was originally developed by Soto et al and was included in the first version of the OECD Conceptual Framework for Testing and Assessment of Endocrine Disrupters published in 2012. However, due to failed validation, it was not included in the updated version of the framework published in 2018.
The mouse ear swelling test is a toxicological test that aims to mimic human skin reactions to chemicals. It avoids post-mortem examination of tested animals.
Pig-a gene mutation assay is a flow cytometry-based method for detecting mammalian cells that have inactivating mutations in the endogenous X-linked reporter gene called phosphatidyl inositolglycan class A gene. PIG-A is involved in the synthesis of glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI), an anchor molecule that tethers multiple protein marker molecules at the surface of the cells. When the sample containing wild-type and PIG-A mutant cells is labeled with fluorescent antibodies raised against GPI-anchored protein markers the wild-type cells will fluoresce and PIG-A mutant cells will not. The fraction of non-fluorescent PIG-A mutant cells in the antibody-labeled sample can be efficiently determined on any of the modern high throughput flow cytometers. The PIG-A mutant frequency can be determined with high accuracy within minutes by processing samples containing a total of a million cells or more.
References
- ↑ Michael J. Derelanko; Carol S. Auletta, eds. (2014), Handbook of Toxicology (3rd ed.), CRC Press, ISBN 978-1-4398-9014-1
- ↑ "Hair Preparations", Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry (7th ed.), Wiley, 2007, doi:10.1002/14356007.a12_571.pub2
- ↑ "Test No. 429: Skin Sensitisation: Local Lymph Node Assay".