Animal models for testing topical corticosteroid potency: a review and some suggested new approaches

Animal models allow for testing the potency of topical corticosteroids by measuring their effects on induced conditions that are analogous to human skin disease. Animal models can examine the anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, antiproliferative, and atrophogenic effects of topical corticosteroids. These test models as they are currently applied are relatively imprecise; however, innovations using newly available histologic, autoradiographic, and biochemical techniques have great potential for precisely quantitating the effects of corticosteroids in animal model systems.