In Vitro Models of the Intestinal Barrier The Report and Recommendations of ECVAM Workshop 46

Eric Le Ferrec, Christophe Chesne, Per Artusson, David Brayden, Gérard Fabre, Pierre Gires, François Guillou, Monique Rousset, Werner Rubas and Maria-Laura Scarino

This is the report of the forty-sixth of a series of workshops organised by the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative methods (ECVAM). The workshop on in vitro models of the intestinal barrier was held in Paris, France, on 4–5 March 1999. The principal aims of the workshop were to seek a consensus on the current models of the intestinal barriers and ways to screen for the movement of drugs across this barrier, and to make useful recommendations for the promotion of the Three Rs in this area. The panel of techniques used for the prediction of the relevant parameters is very large, including in vivo and in situ methods, cell culture techniques, and in vivo studies with human volunteers. It was intended to compare these different models, and to delineate their strengths and weaknesses in the various screening situations encountered in the pharmaceutical industry.