Developmental neurotoxicity testing: Scientific approaches towards the next generation to protect the developing nervous system of children. An overview of the Developmental Neurotoxicity Symposium in 2011

摘要

The Developmental Neurotoxicology (DNT) Committee has been working to promote developmental neurotoxicology and related scientific areas of interest to integrate academic and regulatory sciences in this field since the Behavioral Teratology Meeting was established by the Japanese Teratology Society in 1982. The committee has led several large-scale collaborative studies to standardize existing methodologies and held symposiums and workshops periodically at the society’s annual meetings. This overview provides a history of the DNT Committee, as well as a brief summary of the DNT Symposium in 2011. Adverse effects of xenobiotics on the developing and/or maturing nervous system are of growing concern. Suspected developmental neurotoxicants include heavy metals such as lead and methyl mercury, anticonvulsant pharmaceuticals, organochlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other industrial chemicals (Rees et al. 1990; Mendola et al. 2002; Grandjean and Landrigan 2006; Julvez and Grandjean 2009). Not only neurologists and neurotoxicologists, but also gynecologists, pediatricians, reproductive and developmental toxicologists and regulators have been involved in the big challenge to protect children’s health by developing methodologies and/or guidelines to predict the developmental neurotoxicity of xenobiotics for precise risk assessments and effective risk managements.