New Tests For Skin Allergy, Eye Irritation Offer Alternatives To Animal Testing

L’Oréal has developed two ways to test compounds for skin allergy and eye irritation that can be used instead of animal testing. The two new alternatives have been adopted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). U-SENS predicts the sensitizing potential of formulations, while HCE EIT can detect the eye irritation potential of chemicals. The U-SENS method for detecting and predicting a skin allergy is based on tests performed in vitro on human cells that express a specific marker of immunity. HCE EIT is based on a human cornea epithelium model reconstructed in vitro that faithfully reproduces human histological and morphological properties.  [Image Credit: © Univ. of Cincinnati ]