Performance standards and practical application of alternative developmental neurotoxicity tests

Time: January 9^th -January 11^th 2017

Venue: Cultural Center at the Cathedral in Konstanz

Outline: Many alternative DNT assays have been established during the past decade, and their practical applications is imminent for testing, research as well as for regulatory purposes. As discussed in the report of the previous International STakeholder NETwork for DNT (ISTNET) think tank meeting (1), the lack of hazard information, i.e. AOP-based DNT testing as well as the relevance of data from novel DNT approaches pose obstacles for regulatory implementation of DNT assays.

Application of DNT assays entails also the definition of performance standards concerning the reproducibility. Moreover, prediction models need to be refined on the basis of current state of the art in biological knowledge and toxicological information. This entails a refined definition of neuro-developmental processes that are modelled, agreement of relevant concentrations of reference compounds, and a comparison of test data across different assays.

The goal of this face-to-face meeting is to produce an overview and update on alternative DNT assays and their performance, as well as to evaluate the tool and test compounds used.

(1): Bal-Price A1, Crofton KM, Leist M et al., (2015). International STakeholder NETwork (ISTNET): creating a developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) testing road map for regulatory purposes. Arch Toxicol. 2015 Feb; 89(2):269-87