Chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM): an alternative predictive model in acute toxicological studies for anti-cancer drugs

The chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) is a preclinical model widely used forvascular and anti-vascular effects of therapeutic agents in vivo. In thisstudy, we examine the suitability of CAM as a predictive model for acute toxicologystudies of drugs by comparing it to conventional mouse and rat models for 10 FDA-approvedanticancer drugs (paclitaxel, carmustine, camptothecin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine,cisplatin, aloin, mitomycin C, actinomycin-D, melphalan). Suitable formulations forintravenous administration were determined before the average of median lethal dose(LD₅₀) and median survival dose (SD₅₀) in the CAM were measuredand calculated for these drugs. The resultant ideal LD₅₀ values were correlatedto those reported in the literature using Pearson’s correlation test for both intravenousand intraperitoneal routes of injection in rodents. Our results showed moderatecorrelations (r²=0.42 − 0.68, P<0.005–0.05) between theideal LD₅₀ values obtained using the CAM model with LD₅₀ values frommice and rats models for both intravenous and intraperitoneal administrations, suggestingthat the chick embryo may be a suitable alternative model for acute drug toxicityscreening before embarking on full toxicological investigations in rodents in developmentof anticancer drugs.