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A ‘Best Practices’ Approach to Neuropathologic Assessment in Developmental Neurotoxicity Testing—for Today

¹ GEMpath Inc., Cedar City, Utah 84720, USA
² Consultants in Veterinary Pathology, Inc., Murrysville, Pennsylvania 15668, USA
³ National Health and Environment Effects Research Laboratory, U.S. EPA, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711, USA
⁴ Independent Consultant, Frenkendorf BL 4402, Switzerland
⁵ Bayer Crop Science LP, Stilwell, Kansas 66085, USA

Correspondence: Address correspondence to: Society of Toxicologic Pathology, 1821 Michael Faraday Drive, Suite 300, Reston, Virginia 20190, USA; e-mail:stp{at}toxpath.org

A key trait of developmental neurotoxicants is their ability to cause structural lesions in the immature nervous system. Thus, neuropathologic assessment is an essential element of developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) studies that are designed to evaluate chemically-induced risk to neural substrates in young humans. The guidelines for conventional DNT assays have been established by regulatory agencies to provide a flexible scaffold for conducting such studies; recent experience has launched new efforts to update these recommendations. The present document was produced by an ad hoc subcommittee of the Society of Toxicologic Pathology (STP) tasked with examining conventional methods used in DNT neuropathology in order to define the ‘best practices’ for dealing with the diverse requirements of both national (EPA) and international (OECD) regulatory bodies. Recommendations (including citations for relevant neurobiological and technical references) address all aspects of the DNT neuropathology examination: study design; tissue fixation, collection, processing, and staining; qualitative and quantitative evaluation; statistical analysis; proper control materials; study documentation; and personnel training. If followed, these proposals will allow pathologists to meet the need for a sound risk assessment (balanced to address both regulatory issues and scientific considerations) in this field today while providing direction for the research needed to further refine DNT neuropathology ‘best practices’ in the future.

Key Words: Developmental neurotoxicity • guidelines • neuropathology • regulatory • rodent

Toxicologic Pathology, Vol. 34, No. 3, 296-313 (2006)
DOI: 10.1080/01926230600713269


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