BioRssay: an R package for analyses of bioassays and probit graphs

Abstract

Abstract Dose–response relationships reflect the effects of a substance on organisms, and are widely used in broad research areas, from medicine and physiology, to vector control and pest management in agronomy. Furthermore, reporting on the response of organisms to stressors is an essential component of many public policies (e.g. public health, environment), and assessment of xenobiotic responses is an integral part of World Health Organization recommendations. Building upon an R script that we previously made available, and considering its popularity, we have now developed a software package in the R environment, BioRssay, to efficiently analyze dose–response relationships. It has more user-friendly functions and more flexibility, and proposes an easy interpretation of the results. The functions in the BioRssay package are built on robust statistical analyses to compare the dose/exposure–response of various bioassays and effectively visualize them in probit-graphs. Graphical Abstract

Keywords

• Bioassays
• Probit analysis
• Dose–response
• Exposure–response
• Lethal dose
• Lethal exposure