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COMPARATIVE SENSITIVITY OF NEUROBEHAVIORAL TESTS FOR CHEMICAL SCREENING
Citation:
Moser, V. AND R. MacPhail. COMPARATIVE SENSITIVITY OF NEUROBEHAVIORAL TESTS FOR CHEMICAL SCREENING. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-90/228 (NTIS PB91117101), 1990.
Description:
Guidelines for conducting neurobehavioral tests of motor activity, schedule-controlled operant performance, and a functional observational battery (FOB) were published by the U.S. EPA Office of Toxic Substances (1985). e have utilized a specific FOB protocol in conjunction with motor activity measured in a figure eight maze and performance maintained under a fixed-interval schedule of reinforcement to determine the acute effects of chemicals which produce different syndromes of intoxication in rats (chlordimeform, carbaryl, pentobarbital, triadimefon, nicotine and 3-acetyl pyridine). n all cases, the last effective dose identified using the FOB as equal to or less than that provided by motor activity and operant tests. or most compounds, motor activity and operant performance ere equally sensitive. icotine and triadimefon, however, increased the rate of operant responding at doses lower than those required to affect motor activity. he time course of each chemical appeared similar across tests with one exception. -Acetyl pyridine produced clear effects in the FOB throughout testing (up to 3 weeks) whereas recovery was evident within one week using motor activity and operant performance. OB and motor activity testing can be easily integrated into ongoing toxicity studies. n the other hand, the traditional approach to testing the effects of chemicals on operant performance requires prior food or water deprivation, and time for training the animals and establishing a stable level of performance. n the ontext of hazard identification, i.e., testing for the effects of unknown chemicals, the FOB and motor activity may be expected to adequately detect neurotoxicity. perant performance may be more valuable in characterizing the actions of identified neurotoxicants.