Test systems of developmental toxicity: state-of-the art and future perspectives

Abstract

tests for developmental toxicity follow OECD guidelines 414 (2-generation study), 426 (developmental neurotoxic-ity) or others. These tests analyze, for example, the num-bers of embryo-fetal deaths, altered total and organ weight and anatomical and behavioral abnormalities. They require exposure and analysis of animals over long periods. For example, according to OECD 426, exposure is performed during gestation and lactation and the offspring has to be analyzed for neurological, histological, neurochemical and behavioral alterations. These complex in vivo tests are too laborious and expensive to allow the required testing for thousands of chemicals (Krug et2013 al. ), and might also not well reflect the human situation because of inter-species variation. Therefore, there is a general agreement that relia-ble, faster and more accurate in vitro tests of developmental toxicity are urgently needed (Krause et al. 2013; Leist et al. 2012; van Thriel et al. 2012).