ALTEX最新文献

{"title":"Air, water and soil: Which alternatives? Alternative models in environmental toxicology.","authors":"Yula Sambuy, Susanna Alloisio, Giorgio Bertanza, Donatella Ferretti, Silvia Letasiova, Giovanna Mazzoleni, Roberta Pedrazzani, Francesca Caloni","doi":"10.14573/altex.1802121","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14573/altex.1802121","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":520550,"journal":{"name":"ALTEX","volume":" ","pages":"254-256"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"36027732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Normalization of data for viability and relative cell function curves.","authors":"Alice Krebs,&nbsp;Johanna Nyffeler,&nbsp;Jörg Rahnenführer,&nbsp;Marcel Leist","doi":"10.14573/1803231","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14573/1803231","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Many types of assays in cell biology, pharmacology and toxicology generate data in which a parameter is measured in a reference system (negative control) and then also under conditions of increasing stress or drug exposure. To make such data easily comparable, they are normalized, i.e., the initial value of the system (e.g., viability or transport function) is set to 100%, and all data are indicated relative to this value. Then, curves are fitted through the data points and summary data of the system behavior are determined. For this, a benchmark response (BMR) is given (e.g., a curve drop by 15 or 50%), and the corresponding benchmark concentration (BMC15 or BMC50) is determined. Especially for low BMRs, this procedure is not very robust and often results in incorrect summary data. It is often neglected that a second normalization (re-normalization) is necessary to make the data suitable for curve fitting. It is also frequently overlooked that this requires knowledge of the system behavior at very low stress conditions. Here, good in vitro practice guidance for the re-normalization procedure is provided so that data of higher fidelity can be generated and presented.</p>","PeriodicalId":520550,"journal":{"name":"ALTEX","volume":" ","pages":"268-271"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"36294387","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The US Federal Tox21 Program: A strategic and operational plan for continued leadership.","authors":"Russell S Thomas, Richard S Paules, Anton Simeonov, Suzanne C Fitzpatrick, Kevin M Crofton, Warren M Casey, Donna L Mendrick","doi":"10.14573/altex.1803011","DOIUrl":"10.14573/altex.1803011","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The traditional approaches to toxicity testing have posed multiple challenges for evaluating the safety of commercial chemicals, pesticides, food additives/contaminants, and medical products.The challenges include number of chemicals that need to be tested, time and resource intensive nature of traditional toxicity tests, and unexpected adverse effects that occur in pharmaceutical clinical trials despite the extensive toxicological testing.Over a decade ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Toxicology Program (NTP), National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) formed a federal consortium for \"Toxicology in the 21st Century\" (Tox21) with a focus on developing and evaluating in vitro high-throughput screening (HTS) methods for hazard identification and providing mechanistic insights.The Tox21 consortium generated data on thousands of pharmaceuticals and datapoor chemicals, developed better understanding of the limits and applications of in vitro methods, and enabled incorporation of HTS data into regulatory decisions. To more broadly address the challenges in toxicology, Tox21 has developed a new strategic and operational plan that expands the focus of its research activities. The new focus areas include developing an expanded portfolio of alternative test systems, addressing technical limitations of in vitrotest systems, curating legacy in vivo toxicity testing data, establishing scientific confidence in the in vitrotest systems, and refining alternative methods for characterizing pharmacokinetics and in vitro assay disposition.The new Tox21 strategic and operational plan addresses key challenges to advance toxicology testing and will benefit both the organizations involved and the toxicology community.</p>","PeriodicalId":520550,"journal":{"name":"ALTEX","volume":" ","pages":"163-168"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6664816/pdf/nihms-1531192.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"35904131","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"First National Congress on Alternatives to Animal Testing and post-congress workshops in India.","authors":"Mohammad A Akbarsha,&nbsp;Benedict Mascarenhas,&nbsp;Christian Pellevoisin","doi":"10.14573/altex.1802231","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14573/altex.1802231","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":520550,"journal":{"name":"ALTEX","volume":" ","pages":"258-260"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"36027729","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"RPTEC/TERT1 cells form highly differentiated tubules when cultured in a 3D matrix.","authors":"Philipp F Secker,&nbsp;Lisanne Luks,&nbsp;Nadja Schlichenmaier,&nbsp;Daniel R Dietrich","doi":"10.14573/altex.1710181","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14573/altex.1710181","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The proximal tubule is the primary site for renal solute reabsorption and secretion and thus a main target for drug-induced toxicity. Current nonclinical methods using 2D cell cultures are unable to fully recapitulate clinical drug responses mainly due to limited in vitro functional lifespan. Since extracellular matrices are known to be key regulators of cell development, culturing cells on classic 2D plastic surfaces inevitably results in loss of differentiation. Hence, 3D models of the human proximal tubule that recapitulate the in vivo morphology would allow for improved drug screening and disease modeling. Here, the development and characterization of a 3D proximal tubule model using RPTEC/TERT1 cells is presented. RPTEC/TERT1 cells self-assembled in matrigel to form highly differentiated and stable 3D tubular structures characterized by a branched network of monolayered cells encircling a cell-free lumen thus mimicking the proximal tubule. In vitro tubuli resembled the polarity of a proximal tubule epithelium as indicated by polar expression of Na+/K+- ATPase and ZO-3. Furthermore, 3D cultured RPTEC/TERT1 cells showed overall increased mRNA expression of xenobiotic transporters e.g. OCTs and MATEs and de novo expression of OAT3 when compared to cultures on plastics or membrane inserts. Finally, this model was used to assess delayed cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity and demonstrated increased sensitivity when compared to 2D culture. Thus, the easy-to-use model described here may prove to be useful for mechanistic investigations, e.g. in discovery of compounds interfering with tubule formation, differentiation and polarization, as well for the detection and understanding of pharmaceutical induced nephrotoxicity.</p>","PeriodicalId":520550,"journal":{"name":"ALTEX","volume":" ","pages":"223-234"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"35609451","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"State-of-the-art and new options to assess T cell activation by skin sensitizers: Cosmetics Europe Workshop.","authors":"Erwin van Vliet,&nbsp;Jochen Kühnl,&nbsp;Carsten Goebel,&nbsp;Silvia Martinozzi-Teissier,&nbsp;Nathalie Alépée,&nbsp;Takao Ashikaga,&nbsp;Brunhilde Blömeke,&nbsp;Aurelia Del Bufalo,&nbsp;Magalie Cluzel,&nbsp;Emanuela Corsini,&nbsp;Nathalie Delrue,&nbsp;Bertrand Desprez,&nbsp;Nichola Gellatly,&nbsp;Christoph Giese,&nbsp;Laura Gribaldo,&nbsp;Sebastian Hoffmann,&nbsp;Martina Klaric,&nbsp;Bernard Maillere,&nbsp;Dean Naisbitt,&nbsp;Marc Pallardy,&nbsp;Marc Vocanson,&nbsp;Dirk Petersohn","doi":"10.14573/altex.1709011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14573/altex.1709011","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Significant progress has been made in the development and validation of non-animal test methods for skin sensitization assessment. At present, three of the four key events of the Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) are assessable by OECD-accepted in vitro methods. The fourth key event describes the immunological response in the draining lymph node where activated dendritic cells present major histocompatibility complex-bound chemically modified peptides to naive T cells, thereby priming the proliferation of antigen-specific T cells. Despite substantial efforts, modelling and assessing this adaptive immune response to sensitizers with in vitro T cell assays still represents a challenge. The Cosmetics Europe Skin Tolerance Task Force organized a workshop, bringing together academic researchers, method developers, industry representatives and regulatory stakeholders to review the scientific status of T cell-based assays, foster a mutual scientific understanding and conceive new options to assess T cell activation. Participants agreed that current T cell assays have come a long way in predicting immunogenicity, but that further investment and collaboration is required to simplify assays, optimize their sensitivity, better define human donor-to-donor variability and evaluate their value to predict sensitizer potency. Furthermore, the potential role of T cell assays in AOP-based testing strategies and subsequent safety assessment concepts for cosmetic ingredients was discussed. It was agreed that it is currently difficult to anticipate uses of T cell assay data for safety assessment and concluded that experience from case studies on real-life risk assessment scenarios is needed to further consider the usefulness of assessing the fourth AOP key event.</p>","PeriodicalId":520550,"journal":{"name":"ALTEX","volume":" ","pages":"179-192"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"35407893","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Recommendations to improve the EU non-technical summaries of animal experiments.","authors":"Katy Taylor,&nbsp;Laura Rego,&nbsp;Tilo Weber","doi":"10.14573/altex.1708111","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14573/altex.1708111","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Under the new Directive 2010/63/EC, member states have to publish non-technical summaries (NTS) of the projects involving animals that they authorise. These summaries must include information on the objectives of the project including the predicted harm and benefits and the number and types of animals to be used. Summaries should also demonstrate compliance with the 3Rs. The intention was that NTS would help increase the transparency of animal research in the EU. In this article, we review the status of the publication of NTS across member states and give some general observations on publication speed, identification, accessibility and quality. We also review in more detail the quality of reporting in a selection of NTS from Germany and the UK. We consistently found that NTS from Germany and the UK were deficient in their description of what is being done to the animals and what they might experience as a result. Using examples taken from specific NTS we highlight what we view to be good and bad examples to assist member states and researchers in producing better NTS in the future. The NTS can also be an important tool in sharing of best practice in the 3Rs and the avoidance of duplicative animal testing. For this to happen however, member states need to publish timely, ensure that NTS are accurate and, ideally, there needs to be some centralisation of the NTS.</p>","PeriodicalId":520550,"journal":{"name":"ALTEX","volume":" ","pages":"193-210"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"35293653","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Co-culture of human alveolar epithelial (hAELVi) and macrophage (THP-1) cell lines.","authors":"Stephanie Kletting,&nbsp;Sarah Barthold,&nbsp;Urska Repnik,&nbsp;Gareth Griffiths,&nbsp;Brigitta Loretz,&nbsp;Nicole Schneider-Daum,&nbsp;Cristiane de Souza Carvalho-Wodarz,&nbsp;Claus-Michael Lehr","doi":"10.14573/altex.1607191","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14573/altex.1607191","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The air-blood barrier is mainly composed of alveolar epithelial cells and macrophages. Whereas the epithelium acts as a diffusional barrier, macrophages represent an immunological barrier, in particular for larger molecules and nanoparticles. This paper describes a new co-culture of human cell lines representing both cell types. Acquiring, culturing and maintaining primary alveolar epithelial cells presents significant logistical and technical difficulties. The recently established human alveolar epithelial lentivirus immortalized cell line, hAELVi, when grown on permeable filters, form monolayers with high functional and morphological resemblance to alveolar type I cells. To model alveolar macrophages, the human cell line THP-1 was seeded on pre-formed hAELVi monolayers. The co-culture was characterized regarding cellular morphology, viability and barrier function. Macrophages were homogenously distributed on the epithelium and could be kept in co-culture for up to 7 days. Transmission electron microscopy showed loose contact between THP-1 and hAELVi cells. When grown at air liquid interface, both cells were covered with extracellular matrix-like structure, which was absent in THP-1 mono culture. In co-culture with macrophages, hAELVi cells displayed similar, sometimes even higher, trans-epithelial electrical resistance than in mono-cultures. When exposed to silver and starch NPs, hAELVi mono-cultures were more tolerant to the particles than THP-1 mono-cultures. The viability in the co-culture was similar to that of hAELVi monocultures. Transport studies with sodium fluorescein in presence/absence of EDTA proved that the co culture acts as functional diffusion barrier. These data demonstrate that hAELVi-/THP-1 co-cultures represent a promising model for safety and permeability studies of inhaled chemicals, drugs and nanoparticles.</p>","PeriodicalId":520550,"journal":{"name":"ALTEX","volume":" ","pages":"211-222"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2018-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"35279850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Read-across approaches--misconceptions, promises and challenges ahead.","authors":"Grace Patlewicz,&nbsp;Nicholas Ball,&nbsp;Richard A Becker,&nbsp;Ewan D Booth,&nbsp;Mark T D Cronin,&nbsp;Dinant Kroese,&nbsp;David Steup,&nbsp;Ben van Ravenzwaay,&nbsp;Thomas Hartung","doi":"10.14573/altex.1410071","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14573/altex.1410071","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Read-across is a data gap filling technique used within category and analogue approaches. It has been utilized as an alternative approach to address information requirements under various past and present regulatory programs such as the OECD High Production Volume Programme as well as the EU's Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of CHemicals (REACH) regulation. Although read-across raises a number of expectations, many misconceptions still remain around what it truly represents; how to address its associated justification in a robust and scientifically credible manner; what challenges/issues exist in terms of its application and acceptance; and what future efforts are needed to resolve them. In terms of future enhancements, read-across is likely to embrace more biologically-orientated approaches consistent with the Toxicity in the 21st Century vision (Tox-21c). This Food for Thought article, which is notably not a consensus report, aims to discuss a number of these aspects and, in doing so, to raise awareness of the ongoing efforts and activities to enhance read-across. It also intends to set the agenda for a CAAT read-across initiative in 2014-2015 to facilitate the proper use of this technique.</p>","PeriodicalId":520550,"journal":{"name":"ALTEX","volume":" ","pages":"387-96"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2014-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"32790976","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The use of artificial crabs for testing predatory behavior and health in the octopus.","authors":"Piero Amodio,&nbsp;Paul Andrews,&nbsp;Marinella Salemme,&nbsp;Giovanna Ponte,&nbsp;Graziano Fiorito","doi":"10.14573/altex.1401282","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14573/altex.1401282","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The willingness of the cephalopod mollusc Octopus vulgaris to attack a live crab is traditionally used as a method to assess the overall health and welfare of octopuses in the laboratory. This method requires placing a crab in the home tank of an animal, measuring the time (latency) taken for the octopus to initiate an attack and withdrawing the crab immediately prior to capture. The same crab is commonly used to assess multiple octopuses as part of daily welfare assessment. Growing concern for the welfare of crustaceans and a review of all laboratory practices for the care and welfare of cephalopods following the inclusion of this taxon in 2010/63/EU prompted a study of the utility of an artificial crab to replace a live crab in the assessment of octopus health. On consecutive days O. vulgaris (N=21) were presented with a live, a dead or an artificial crab, and the latency to attack measured. Despite differences in the predatory performance towards the three different crab alternatives, octopuses readily attacked the artificial (and the dead) crab, showing that they can generalize and respond appropriately towards artificial prey. Researchers should consider using an artificial crab to replace the use of a live crab as part of the routine health assessment of O. vulgaris.</p>","PeriodicalId":520550,"journal":{"name":"ALTEX","volume":" ","pages":"494-9"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6,"publicationDate":"2014-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"32416526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}