Isolated Chicken Eye

The Isolated Chicken Eye test method (ICE) is an in vitro test method that can be used to identify chemicals (or substances or mixtures) as either 1) causing "serious eye damage" (Category 1 of the Globally Harmonized System for the Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS)), or 2) not requiring classification for eye irritation or serious eye damage according to the GHS. ICE is an organotypic model that provides short-term maintenance of the chicken eye, a byproduct of processing plants. Damage caused by the test substance is assessed by quantitative determination of corneal swelling and qualitative assessment of opacity and fluroescein retention. Each measurement is either 1) converted into a quantitative score that is used to calculate an overall in vitro ocular irritation index or 2) assigned a qualitative categorization that is used to assign an in vitro ocular irritancy classification. Either outcome can then be used to predict the in vivo ocular irritation potential of a test substance.