Appropriate end points for the characterization of behavioral changes in developmental toxicology.

Abstract

The present paper is devoted to second-and higher-tier test methods for the characterization of behavioral changes produced in rodents by exposure to noxious agents during development. The paper analyzes a series of end points that are informative about specific processes and underlying regulatory mechanisms but require greater technical sophistication and larger investments than first-tier end points. This applies to ultrasonic emissions in successive postnatal periods; to mother-pup interactions, including appropriate cross-fostering controls; to social (including sexual) interaction tests from the infantile to the young adult stage; and to a variety of conditioning and learning tests using both positive and negative reinforcement. Environ Health Perspect 104(Suppl 2): 307-315 (1996)

Biosafety of multiwalled carbon nanotube in mice: a behavioral toxicological approach

“…As a rule, learning ability is a beneficial parameter for evaluate of neurobehavioral toxicology (Tanimura et al, 1992;Cuomo et al, 1996). With regard to increase anxious and depressive behaviors in EPM and FST respectively, lower performance in MWM may be associated these behaviors.…”

Neurofunctional Effects of Developmental Alcohol Exposure in Alcohol-Preferring and Alcohol-Nonpreferring Rats

“…At one extreme, for example, ultrasonic calls are produced just hours after birth (Sales 1979;Dastur et al 1999), which indicates that the neural substrates have completed their development prenatally. At the opposite extreme, active avoidance does not appear before the end of the second postnatal week (Cuomo et al 1996). In between these two extremes, some responses (particularly motor activity) are given already at birth, but their pattern shows substantial quantitative and qualitative changes over the four postnatal weeks (Laviola et al 1988).…”

Structural Effects and Neurofunctional Sequelae of Developmental Exposure to Psychotherapeutic Drugs: Experimental and Clinical Aspects

“…These methodologies, described in detail by various authors (Annau, 1986;Riley and Vorhees, 1986;Cuomo et al, 1996, Bignami, 1996, have proven to be extremely useful in revealing subtle postnatal effects of prenatal toxic expo-sures and, in conjunction with pharmacological challenges, in identifying underlying neurochemical alterations. These behavioral teratology studies have been applied in some instances to human populations, as in the case of lead (Needleman and Bellinger, 1994), but they have not yet become a required component of premarket testing of new pharmaceuticals.…”