A comparison of three guinea-pig sensitization procedures for the detection of 19 reported human contact sensitizers.

A maximization test (after Magnusson & Kligman 1970), a single injection adjuvant test (SIAT) and a modified Draize test procedure for assessing contact sensitization potential in guinea-pigs have been compared for their ability to detect 19 known human contact sensitizers. The results show that the modified Draize procedure is a good screening test particularly for strong sensitizers. The maximization procedure is a very stringent test of sensitization potential, able to detect some marginal sensitizers. The sensitivity of the SIAT procedure is sufficiently similar to that of the maximization test to act as an alternative for routine testing, particularly in view of its practical advantages over the maximization procedure.