Api, A. M. Fragrances and the Skin: Animal Alternatives 1992. Collection of Conference Proceedings: Sixth International Information Exchange. Nov. 19-20. Research Institute for Fragrance Materials. Princeton, NJ.

 t,t-2,4-hexadienal - 142-83-6; hexyl salicylate - 6259-76-3; citral - 5392-40-5; diethyl phthalate - 84-66-2

 The principal objective of a skin irritation test is to determine the irritation potential of a substance so that a hazard assessment can be made and possible risk to humans evaluated. The traditional test for evaluating skin irritation has been in vivo tests in the rabbit, often referred to as Draize tests. These have been employed for almost 50 years and are regarded as standard requirements for estimating the hazards associated with human skin exposure to test materials. Since 1980, the validity and propriety of these tests have been increasingly questioned. Much more attention has been given to the search for alternative test procedures in the hope that methods could be developed that would be both more humane and more predictive of human response. RIFM wanted to investigate one of the new in vitro skin models for detecting skin irritation potential. A key factor in effectively replacing animals with alternative methods is validation, which requires databases to correlate historical in vivo results with new in vitro results. We had accumulated irritation data on approximately 100 fragrance materials using the procedure detailed in the EEC Directive and we felt that a study of representatives from this group of materials was a good place to start. Skin2 was the model we investigated. We chose MTT uptake, LDH release, and PGE2 release as endpoints to be measured. Correlation of the results of these assays with those of the rabbit irritation test was not exact.