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ARRAYS FOR BIOMONITORING ENVIRONMENTAL AND REPRODUCTIVE TOXICOLOGY
Citation:
ROCKETT, J. C., L. FOLMAR, M. J. HEMMER, AND D. J. DIX. ARRAYS FOR BIOMONITORING ENVIRONMENTAL AND REPRODUCTIVE TOXICOLOGY. Presented at Macroresults Through Microarrays 3: Advancing Drug Development Meeting, Boston, MA, April 29 - May 01, 2002.
Description:
DNA arrays are receiving increasing interest as a tool for monitoring the developmental and reproductive impact of xenobiotics and other hazardous materials on human and wildlife populations. The primary tenet of toxicogenomics is that effects of environmental exposure on cellular functions are in most cases mediated by gene expression changes. Thus, profiling or 'fingerprinting' the genes expressed in a given cell, population of cells, tissue or organ, promises to help define their 'health' status by providing patterns of gene expression or biomarkers which are indicative of, for example, abnormal development or the presence of a toxicant. We are using commercially available and custom DNA arrays to carry out gene expression profiling in target and surrogate tissues of a number of important model and indicator species, including human, rat and sheepshead minnow. These arrays are being applied in various biomonitoring studies in anticipation that they will: (a) provide a tool for discriminating between different classes of toxicants; (b) help to elucidate mechanisms or modes of action of environmental toxicants in individual species; (c) identify common mechanisms of action across species; (d) assist in the early detection of toxicant exposure. This is an abstract of a proposed presentation and does not necessarily reflect EPA policy.