Laboratory Animal Metabolism (Toxicokinetics)

Contact Us

Long history of conducting standard and tailored metabolism studies for a vast range of chemicals

An established team of metabolism scientists with scientific insights and practical expertise accumulated over years working in the industry

Flexible facilities that can accommodate a wide range of test species, to high welfare standards

Toxicokinetic studies allow you to describe the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) of your chemical in an animal model. This information is important for a variety of reasons. It can allow you to relate concentrations of a chemical to observed toxicity, it establishes the main parent compound or metabolite in the circulation, gives information on potential accumulation in tissues and organs, and the chemical’s biotransformation. Data from toxicokinetic studies can be extrapolated for use in the assessment of human hazard and/or risk from your chemical. 

How best to optimize your animal metabolism studies

Metabolism studies in laboratory animals are usually straightforward, however there are still multiple things to consider. Which species is appropriate and are multiple species required? What about dosing — how often and by what route?

What You Get

Standard and specialty studies, including inhalation ADME

As well as the standard OECD 417: Toxicokinetic studies, we have expertise in the design and performing tailored studies. For example, studies can be tailored for:

  • Species: rat, mouse, rabbit, dog, primate and minipig
  • Dose administration: including oral, dermal, IV or inhalation administration for single or repeat dosing
  • Sample collection including bile-duct and duodenal cannulation in rats and dogs for biliary excretion and portal artery/vein cannulation to investigate hepatic first-pass metabolism

Full range of toxicokinetic analysis

We provide a full range of toxicokinetic assessments including:

  • Excretion/balance
  • Pharmacokinetics
  • Tissue distribution, including quantitative whole-body audioradiography (QWBA)
  • Biliary excretion
  • Metabolite profiling and identification

Innovation to enhance animal welfare standards

We work diligently to ensure the optimum welfare standards are maintained. In addition, we work with NC3Rs and other CROs to refine bile duct cannulation (BDC) models to further enhance animal welfare and reduce numbers while ensuring a robust model with high scientific integrity.

Let's start a conversation

Contact Us