Comparative study of the HET-CAM test and the Draize eye test for assessment of irritancy potential

The ocular irritancy potential of different substances used as vehicles has been tested by the Draize test method and the alternative hen's egg test-chorioallantoic membrane (HET-CAM) test. With the latter test, carboxymethylcellulose was not found to be irritant and can be used to suspend insoluble substances to be assessed by this method. The ocular irritancy potential of six commercial disinfectants was also tested by the Draize test method and the alternative HET-CAM test. Products were assigned to categories of irritancy, according to two different sets of criteria for the Draize test results, and according to irritancy potential assessed by the HET-CAM test. When both sets of results for Draize categories were compared with those for the HET-CAM test, four of the six products tested showed similar irritancy potential. The remaining two products gave false positive results on the HET-CAM compared with the Draize test.