Historically, early identification and characterization of adverse effects of industrial chemicals was difficult because conventional toxicological test methods did not meet R&D needs for rapid, relatively inexpensive methods amenable to small amounts of test material. The pharmaceutical industry now front-loads toxicity testing, using in silico, in vitro, and less demanding animal tests at earlier stages of product development to identify and anticipate undesirable toxicological effects and optimize product development. The Green Chemistry movement embraces similar ideas for development of less toxic products, safer processes, and less waste and exposure. Further, the concept of benign design suggests ways to consider possible toxicities before the actual synthesis and to apply some structure/activity rules (SAR) and in silico methods. This requires not only scientific development but also a change in corporate culture in which synthetic chemists work with toxicologists. An emerging discipline called Green Toxicology (Anastas, 2012) provides a framework for integrating the principles of toxicology into the enterprise of designing safer chemicals, thereby minimizing potential toxicity as early in production as possible. Green Toxicology’s novel utility lies in driving innovation by moving safety considerations to the earliest stage in a chemical’s lifecycle, i.e., to molecular design. In principle, this field is no different than other subdisciplines of toxicology that endeavor to focus on a specific area – for example, clinical, environmental or forensic toxicology. We use the same principles and tools to evaluate an existing substance or to design a new one. The unique emphasis is in using 21st century toxicology tools as a preventative strategy to “design out” undesired human health and environmental effects, thereby increasing the likelihood of launching a successful, sustainable product. Starting with the formation of a steering group and a series of workshops, the Green Toxicology concept is currently spreading internationally and is being refined via an iterative process.

Since March 2013, animal use for cosmetics testing for the European market has been banned. This requires a renewed view on risk assessment in this field. However, in other fields as well, traditional animal experimentation does not always satisfy require­ments in safety testing, as the need for human-relevant information is ever increasing. A general strategy for animal-free test approaches was outlined by the US National Research Council’s vision document for Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century in 2007. It is now possible to provide a more defined roadmap on how to implement this vision for the four principal areas of systemic toxicity evaluation: repeat dose organ toxicity, carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity and allergy induction (skin sensitization), as well as for the evaluation of toxicant metabolism (toxicokinetics) (Fig. 1). CAAT-Europe assembled experts from Europe, America and Asia to design a scientific roadmap for future risk assessment approaches and the outcome was then further discussed and refined in two consensus meetings with over 200 stakeholders. The key recommendations include: focusing on improving existing methods rather than favoring de novo design; combining hazard testing with toxicokinetics predictions; developing integrated test strategies; incorporating new high content endpoints to classical assays; evolving test validation procedures; promoting collaboration and data-sharing of different industrial sectors; integrating new disciplines, such as systems biology and high throughput screening; and involving regulators early on in the test development process. A focus on data quality, combined with increased attention to the scientific background of a test method, will be important drivers. Information from each test system should be mapped along adverse outcome pathways. Finally, quantitative information on all factors and key events will be fed into systems biology models that allow a probabilistic risk assessment with flexible adaptation to exposure scenarios and individual risk factors.

This assay does not distinguish a sensitizer from a non-sensitizer, but may classify known skin sensitizers according to their potency. It assesses the chemical concentration resulting in 50% cytotoxicity (EE-EC50) or the 2-fold increase in IL-1α (IL-1α2x). Four laboratories received 13 coded sensitizers. Reproducible results were obtained in each laboratory. A binary prediction model, EC50 ≥7 mg/ml = weak to moderate sensitizer and EC50 <7 mg/ml = strong to extreme sensitizer had an accuracy of 77%. A superior EE (EC50 and IL-1α2x) correlation was observed to human in vivo DSA05 data compared to LLNA-EC3 data. Human in vivo NOEL and LLNA-EC3 data correlated to a similar extent to in vitro EE data. Our results indicate that this easily transferable EE potency assay is suitable for testing chemical allergens of unknown potencies and may now be ready for further validation, providing complementary potency information to other assays already undergoing validation for assessing skin sensitization potential.

Nephrotoxicity of chemotherapeutics is a major hindrance in the treatment of various tumors. Therefore, test systems that reflect mechanisms of human kidney toxicity are necessary. Cell culture based systems have to be developed to reduce animal testing. Renal proximal tubular epithelial cells are of specific interest in this regard, as they reabsorb substances from human primary urine filtrates and thus are exposed to urinary excreted xenobiotics and are a major target of cisplatin toxicity. While animal studies using gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) knock-out mice or GGT inhibitors show that GGT activity increases kidney toxicity of cisplatin, the use of various cell models gives contradictory results. We therefore used a cell panel of immortalized human renal proximal tubular epithelial (RPTECs) cell lines differing in GGT activity. Low GGT activity resulted in high cisplatin sensitivity, as observed in RPTEC-SV40 cells or after siRNA mediated knock-down of GGT in RPTEC/TERT1 cells that have high GGT activity. However, the addition of GGT did not rescue but also increased cisplatin sensitivity, and adding GGT inhibitor as well as substrate (glutathione) or product (cysteinyl-glycine) of GGT resulted in decreased sensitivity. While our data suggest that the use of cell panels is of value in toxicology and toxicogenomics, they also emphasize the complex interplay of toxins with the intracellular and extracellular microenvironment. We hypothesize that especially epithelial barrier formation and polarity of RPTECs need to be considered in toxicity models to validly predict the in vivo situation.

Alzheimer disease (AD) is a medically and financially overwhelming condition, and incidence rates are expected to triple by 2050. Despite decades of research in animal models of AD, the disease remains incompletely understood, with few treatment options. This review summarizes historical and current AD research efforts, with emphasis on the disparity between preclinical animal studies and the reality of human disease and how this has impacted clinical trials. We provide a mechanism for shifting the focus of AD research away from animal models to focus primarily on human biology as a means to improve the applicability of research findings to human disease. Implementation of these alternatives may hasten development of improved strategies to prevent, detect, ameliorate, and possibly cure this devastating disease.

Zebrafish embryos were exposed to concentration ranges of selected thyroid-active model compounds in order to assess the applicability of zebrafish-based developmental scoring systems within an alternative testing strategy to detect the developmental toxicity of thyroid-active compounds. Model compounds tested included triiodothyronine (T3), propylthiouracil (PTU), methimazole (MMI), sodium perchlorate (NaClO₄) and amiodarone hydrochloride (AMI), selected to represent different modes of action affecting thyroid activity. Tested time windows included 48-120 hours post fertilization (hpf), 0-72 hpf and 0-120 hpf. All tested compounds resulted in developmental changes, with T3 being the most potent. The developmental parameters affected included reflective iridophores, beat and glide swimming, inflated swim bladders, as well as resorbed yolk sacs. These effects are only evident by 120 hpf and therefore an existing General Morphology Score (GMS) system was extended to create a General Developmental Score (GDS) that extends beyond the 72 hpf scoring limit of GMS and includes additional parameters that are affected by exposure to model thyroid-active compounds. Moreover, the GDS is cumulative as it includes not only the scoring of developmental morphologies but also integrates developmental dysmorphologies. Exposures from 48-120 hpf did not provide additional information to exposures from 0-120 hpf. The results indicate that the zebrafish GDS can detect the developmental toxicity of thyroid toxicants and may be of use in an integrated testing strategy to reduce, refine and, in certain cases, replace animal testing.

This glossary was developed to provide technical references to support work in the field of alternatives to animal testing. It was compiled from various existing reference documents coming from different sources and is meant to be a point of reference on alternatives to animal testing. Giving the ever-increasing number of alternative test methods and approaches being developed over the last decades, a combination, revision and harmonization of earlier published collections of terms used in the validation of such methods is required. The need to update previous glossary efforts came from the acknowledgement that new words have emerged with the development of new approaches, while others have become obsolete, and the meaning of some terms has partially changed over time. With this glossary we intend to provide guidance on issues related to the validation of new or updated testing methods consistent with current approaches. Moreover, because of new developments and technologies, a glossary needs to be a living, constantly updated document. An Internet-based version based on this compilation may be found at http://altweb.jhsph.edu/, allowing the addition of new material.

An open source implementation of a previously published integrated testing strategy (ITS) for skin sensitization using a Bayesian network has been developed using R, a free and open source statistical computing language. The ITS model provides probabilistic predictions of skin sensitization potency based on in silico and in vitro information as well as skin penetration characteristics from a published bioavailability model (Kasting et al., 2008). The structure of the Bayesian network was designed to be consistent with the adverse outcome pathway published by the OECD (Jaworska et al., 2011, 2013). In this paper, the previously published data set (Jaworska et al., 2013) is improved by two data corrections and a modified application of the Kasting model. The new data set implemented in the original commercial software package and the new R version produced consistent results. The data and a fully documented version of the code are publicly available (http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/go/its).

Despite changing attitudes towards animal testing and current legislation to protect experimental animals, the rate of animal experiments seems to have changed little in recent years. On May 15-16, 2013, the In Vitro Testing Industrial Platform (IVTIP) held an open meeting to discuss the state of the art in alternative methods, how companies have, can and will need to adapt and what drives and hinders regulatory acceptance and use. Several important points arose from the meeting. First, industry and regulatory bodies should not wait for complete suites of alternative tests to become available, but should begin working with methods available right now (e.g., mining of existing animal data to direct future studies, implementation of alternative tests wherever scientifically valid rather than continuing to rely on animal tests) in non-animal and animal integrated strategies to reduce the numbers of animals tested. Second, sharing of information (communication), harmonization and standardization (coordination), commitment and collaboration are all required to improve the quality and speed of validation, acceptance and implementation of tests. Finally, how alternative methods can be used in research and development before formal implementation in regulations should be considered. Here we present the conclusions on what can be done already and suggest some solutions and strategies for the future.