Abstract
ALTHOUGH the arsenobenzenes of therapeutic L k value are, theoretically, chemical individuals, different batches of the same compound may vary both in toxicity and therapeutic efficiency, so that biological tests on each batch are essential before clinical use. Two separate tests are required, since toxicity and therapeutic efficiency are not proportional: in fact, they may vary inversely, and a toxic sample may have only a negligible therapeutic effect. The tests are usually carried out on mice. In the therapeutic test the animals are first infected with a trypanosome and the curative effect of a small dose of the drug under test observed; in the test for toxicity, larger doses are given and the mortality determined, the dosage being such that some proportion, but not all, of the animals injected die within some specified period after the administration. The toxicity tests in use for novarsenobenzene and neosalvarsan have been exhaustively examined by Durham, Gaddum, and Marchal:1 their conclusions are of interest both from the point of view of toxicity tests in general, and also from the fact that they have led to the formulation of a simple and trustworthy test for this compound.
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Toxicity Tests for Novarsenobenzene. Nature 124, 282 (1929). https://doi.org/10.1038/124282a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/124282a0