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Abstract Random error exists not only in toxicity experiments but also in the fitting of dose-response curves (DRC). It is, therefore, very important to rationally characterize the dose-response relationship and its confidence interval (CI). In the present research, the basic principles of the function-based confidence interval (FCI) and the observation-based confidence interval (OCI) were explained on the basis of the nonlinear least square fitting of DRC. p-Chlorophenol and an equipotent concentration ratio mixture were taken as example to illustrate why the FCI used in most literatures can not describe the uncertainty of experimental data efficiently. Therefore, to really reflect the uncertainty in toxicity test, the OCI should be selected as an alternative to characterize DRC. Thus, patterns of mixture toxic action (PMTA) might be induced from the comparison of the experimental OCI with the toxicity values predicted by dose addition (DA) and independent action (IA). It is suggested that the OCI should be sufficiently taken into account in the analysis of PMTA such as synergism, antagonism, IA and DA.
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Received: 02 August 2008
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