This is the site dedicated to useful software for in vitro toxicology supported by

The Doerenkamp-Zbinden Chair of in-vitro Toxicology and Biomedicine/Alternatives to Animal Experimentation

a.k.a. AG Leist, University of Konstanz

BMC


Abstract
Many toxicological test methods, including assays of cell viability and function, require an evaluation of concentration-response data. This often involves curve fitting, and the resulting mathematical functions are then used to determine the concentration at which a certain deviation from the control value occurs (e.g. a decrease of cell viability by 15%). Such a threshold is called the benchmark response (BMR). For a toxicological test, it is often of interest to determine the concentration of test compound at which a pre-defined BMR of e.g. 10, 25 or 50% is reached. The concentration at which the modelled curve crosses the BMR is called the benchmark concentration (BMC). We present a user-friendly, web-based tool (BMCeasy), designed for operators without programming skills and profound statistical background, to determine BMCs and their confidence intervals. BMCeasy allows simultaneous analysis of viability plus a functional test endpoint, and it yields absolute BMCs with confidence intervals for any BMR. Besides an explanation of the algorithm underlying BMCeasy, this article also gives multiple examples of data outputs. BMCeasy was used within the EU-ToxRisk project for preparing data packages that were submitted to regulatory authorities, demonstrating the real-life applicability of the tool.



Original publication: Krebs A, Nyffeler J, Karreman C, Schmidt BZ, Kappenberg F, Mellert J, Pallocca G, Pastor M, Rahnenführer J, Leist M. 2020 Determination of benchmark concentrations and their statistical uncertainty for cytotoxicity test data and functional in vitro assays. ALTEX, 37, p. 155-163.

Read the manual


Open/Download the example file. - Microsoft Exel format


Open/Download an empty file, to fill in your own data. - Microsoft Exel format


R-code (by J. Nyffeler) available at: Github. (Software repository)


To start the ONLINE version of the program, click on the Graphic, the capital "BMC" on the top of this page or here .


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