• Toxicological Research
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.143-154
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• 1996

This paper reviews the toxicological role of median lethal dose ($LD_50$) based on animal and human data. Animal oral $LD_50$ values of eighty seven chemicals were collected and comparatively evaluated with human minimum toxic dose ($TD_50$). In general, animal $LD_50$ values were much higher than human $TD_50$. The ratios between $LD_50$ and TDlo were ranged from 0.01 and over 1000, suggesting safety factor of up to 1000 between humans and animals in the case of acute toxicity data. However, about 40% of chemicals investigated were within the ratio of 10. Although the cases (N=20) were small, $LD_50$ values of guinea pig were closer to human TDlo than those of other animal species. In interanimal species (rat, mouse, rabbit, dog), the ratios of $LD_50$ values were between 0.1 and 5 (up to 50-fold difference). When the data are analyzed by chemical strut-ares, human $TD_50$ values were very close to rat oral $LD_50$ values. These data suggest that rat oral $LD_50$ value might be a useful parameter predicting human TDlo and one animal species could be sufficient for acute toxicity test.