The relevance of clinical pathology to toxicology studies

Abstract

Standardised lists of haematology, clinical biochemistry and urinalysis parameters are monitored during the course of toxicity studies to assess the potential target organ toxicity of pharmaceuticals, medical and surgical devices, agrochemicals, direct and indirect food additives and industrial chemicals. The biological significance and toxicological importance of any changes which are found between the control and test groups have then to be considered in perspective. Although the temporal relationships between clinical pathology findings and histological lesions in target organs or tissues may not be simple the correlations which can be established with clinical pathology findings and post mortem and histopathology observations are crucial if data are to be correctly evaluated. It is also important to understand how factors other than the experimental treatment can modulate the routinely measured parameters. Clinical pathology data are sometimes useful in elucidating the mechanism of toxic responses observed in animals and their extrapolation to humans. Greater thought with respect to the selection of tests, the timing of investigations and the elimination of sources of biological and experimental variation could lead to improvements in the predictive value of animal toxicology studies.