BJORN EKWALL AND HIS CONTRIBUTION TO MODERN CELL TOXICOLOGY
A. Kolman
Swedish Fund for Research Without Animal Experiments, Stockholm, Sweden;
e-mail: ndurnova@mail.ru
Dr. Bjorn Ekwall (1940—2000) was a prominent Swedish scientist — cell toxicologist, who made an outstanding
contribution in the field of in vitro toxicology. In the early 80-ties Ekwall formulated so called basal
cytotoxicity concept, which served as a basis for modern orientation in the field of cell toxicology: the use of
tests on cells in culture for prediction of acute systemic toxicity in humans, instead of the use of tests on experimental
animals. To be able to verify his theories, Ekwall organized and led the international toxicological project
called MEIC: Multicentre Evaluation of In Vitro Cytotoxicity Programme (1989—1999). In this project,
50 selected chemicals were tested in 100 laboratories worldwide with more than 60 different in vitro tests (laboratories
have chosen tests themselves). MEIC project was unique not only because its large scale, but, in particular,
because, for the first time, the human peak blood concentrations after acute poisoning with chemicals were
used as references, aiming to check predictability of the in vitro assays. The results of the MEIC project have
clearly demonstrated a possibility to use in vitro tests for prediction of toxicity of chemicals in humans.
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