This practice pertains to all forms of toxicological testing (acute, subchronic, or chronic) performed by any route of administration (inhalation, oral, dermal, ocular, or other).

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Good Laboratory Practices for Nonclinical Laboratory Studies, as listed in 40 CFR, requires that a testing facility maintain specific standard operating procedures (SOPs) including an SOP covering clinical observations in test animals.

This practice serves as a basis for consistency in clinical observations. Actual procedures and forms to be used in recording observations must be described in individual study protocols.

1.1 This practice describes the terms used in observing and recording cutaneous, gastrointestinal, respiratory, reproductive, neuromuscular, ocular, and general clinical signs of animals undergoing toxicological testing. This practice also assists in properly observing and assessing laboratory animals for signs of disease or adverse effects of compound administration.

1.2 This practice includes codes and descriptions for a wide variety of clinical signs, anatomical locations, and other descriptive qualifiers, and a technique for scoring the extent or severity of clinical signs.

1.3 This practice assumes that the reader is knowledgeable in animal toxicology and related pertinent areas and is trained in making clinical observations.