The hepatocyte primary culture/DNA repair test using hepatocytes from several species.

The hepatocyte primary culture/DNA repair test, originally validated with rat hepatocytes, has been extended to use hepatocytes from other species including mouse, hamster, guinea pig, rabbit, monkey and human. Both qualitative and quantitative differences have been observed when chemicals are examined in the hepatocyte primary culture/DNA repair test using hepatocytes from more than one species. Examples are discussed that illustrate that the genotoxicity of a chemical can be a species-specific response and that multi-species testing permits a more complete assessment of genotoxicity.