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In vitro approaches to screening and prioritizing chemicals for potential developmental neurotoxicity
Citation:
Shafer, Tim. In vitro approaches to screening and prioritizing chemicals for potential developmental neurotoxicity. Seminar to Tufts University Department of Bioelectrical Eng, Medford, MA, March 26, 2018.
Impact/Purpose:
This presentation will highlight EPA efforts in chemical screening and prioritization to researchers at Tufts University
Description:
Characterization of the potential adverse effects is lacking for tens of thousands of chemicals that are present in the environment, and characterization of developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) hazard lags behind that of other adverse outcomes (e.g. hepatotoxicity). This is due in part to the high cost and large number of animals needed to characterize DNT hazard. Thus, faster, less expensive approaches for DNT testing are needed. To address this need, EPA scientists have been developing assays capable of screening and prioritizing chemicals for DNT hazard. These assays use high-content imaging (HCI) and microelectrode array (MEA) recording to develop cell-based assays that detect chemical effects on key neurodevelopmental processes, including proliferation, differentiation, synaptogenesis and network function. The ability of these assays to identify compounds with DNT hazard is being evaluated by testing a reference set of developmentally neurotoxic compounds and by developing mathematical approaches to unbiased compound prioritization. The assays developed to date are able to detect effects of reference compounds with high sensitivity and specificity, and now are being used to evaluate compound sets that are of interest to regulatory decision-makers. This presentation will provide an overview of the various assays and examples of how they currently providing information to regulatory decision-makers. (This work was supported by the US Environmental Protection Agency. This abstract does not reflect EPA policy).