Positive controls serve several crucial purposes in toxicology:
1. Validation of Experimental Procedures: By including a positive control, researchers can confirm that the experimental procedures are able to produce the expected outcome. This ensures that the study is capable of detecting toxic effects when they are present.
2. Benchmarking: Positive controls provide a reference point against which the effects of test substances can be compared. This helps in quantifying the degree of toxicity of new substances relative to a known standard.
3. Quality Assurance: Positive controls help in identifying any deficiencies or errors in the experimental setup. If the positive control does not produce the expected result, it indicates a problem that needs to be addressed before proceeding further.
