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  • Over 60 years' experience performing inhalation studies to recognized worldwide standards, on standard chemicals, difficult to handle and hazardous materials including nanomaterials

  • A reputation for innovating in both study design and delivery mechanisms to optimize inhalation toxicology study success

  • Dedicated teams of inhalation toxicology experts including aerosol technicians, specialist animal technicians, engineers, study managers, pathologists lead by inhalation science toxicology experts

Exposure to a chemical through accidental inhalation poses a potential risk to human health including worker safety. The exposure could pose an acute risk or lead to longer term effects of these toxicants, particularly for the respiratory system. Other aspects include development and/or reproduction. We can provide inhalation toxicology services for a broad range of safety assessments, be they standard studies or novel ones requiring innovative approaches and unique delivery devices.

Inhalation toxicology studies can provide unique and complex challenges

Planning and managing any toxicology study can be daunting; however, inhalation toxicology studies pose unique challenges and complexities. You need to tailor studies to your chemical and optimize them for physiochemical properties and the required regulatory endpoints. You may need to refine standard test approaches to ensure study integrity. This means partnering with a team you can trust to design and manage your inhalation toxicology studies in a way that is right for you and your chemical.

An inhalation toxicology team with extensive and diverse expertise

The inhalation toxicology team consists of a range of experts from diverse backgrounds and with extensive experience in planning and running inhalation toxicology studies. The team includes engineers, aerosol technologists, animal welfare specialists, vets, chemical analysts, pathologists and inhalation science toxicology experts.

Recognized inhalation studies delivered with reliable results

Our experience includes performing common inhalation toxicology studies such as:

  • Acute to carcinogenicity
  • Cardiotoxicity to assessing anesthetic potential
  • Studies with specific approaches and dosing up to 24 hours/day
  • Embryofetal to two-generation reproductive studies

Innovation to address your specific challenges and optimize results

Sometimes standard approaches don’t work — that’s when our ‘first of a kind’ inhalation toxicology mindset can help devise a solution suited to your unique challenge. This may be to address unusual endpoints or in the use of non-standard animal species. Alternatively, it may mean customizing inhalation delivery equipment to optimize data quality. This could be via custom-built inhalation chambers or even by 3D printing face masks specific to individual test animals. As your partner, Labcorp can innovate and enhance standard study approaches to optimize them for your chemical.

State-of-the-art analytical techniques and facilities to produce high-quality data

Working hand-in-hand with analytic scientists, the inhalation toxicology team ensures high quality data is produced in an appropriate timescale. Analytical approaches used include GC, IR, UPLC and HPLC analysis and compound specific analysis.

High welfare standards assured for a wide range of common and uncommon species

We are proud of the high welfare standards observed in all our in vivo work and especially in inhalation studies where a broad range of common and uncommon species may be required. An expert team of animal technicians and veterinarians conduct in vivo studies to ensure the highest levels of animal care. Inhalation studies can be performed on the following species:

  • Mouse
  • Rabbit
  • Dog
  • Minipig
  • Pygmy goat
  • Cow

A comprehensive range of inhalation toxicology studies for your chemical

Our standard suite of inhalation toxicology studies for chemicals

  • OECD 403/OCSPP 870.1300: Acute inhalation toxicity
  • OECD 433: Acute inhalation study (fixed concentration)
  • OECD 412: Inhalation toxicity study (subacute, 28-day)
  • OECD 413/OCSPP 870.3465: Inhalation toxicity study (subchronic, 90-day)

As well as standard studies, we can perform non-standard and tailored inhalation studies. Chronic toxicity and carcinogenicity and DART (developmental and reproductive toxicology) studies by the inhalation route are also available.

Chronic toxicity and carcinogenicity studies

  • OECD 451/OCSPP 870.4200: Carcinogenicity studies
  • OECD 452/OCSPP 870.4100: Chronic toxicity studies
  • OECD 453/OCSPP 870.4300: Combined chronic toxicity/carcinogenicity studies

DART studies

  • OECD 414: Prenatal developmental toxicity study
  • OECD 443: Extended one-generation reproductive toxicity study (EOGRTS)
  • OECD 416: Two-generation reproduction toxicity
  • OECD 421: Reproduction/developmental toxicity screening test
  • OECD 422: Combined repeated dose toxicity study with the reproduction/developmental toxicity screening test
  • OECD 426 : Developmental neurotoxicity study

Genotoxicity studies

  • OECD 474 : Erythrocyte micronucleus test (in vivo mammalian)
  • OECD 488 : Transgenic rodent somatic and germ cell gene mutation assays (Muta™Mouse)
  • OECD 489 : Alkaline comet assay (in vivo mammalian)

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