Classification of reproductive toxicants with diverse mechanisms in the embryonic stem cell test

Abstract

-The embryonic stem cell test (EST) is a promising system to detect embryotoxicity in vitro. Recent studies have pointed out some limitations of the EST and suggest that the applicability domain of the EST and its prediction model have to be better defined. Here, eight substances of known reproductive toxicity were tested in the EST under blind conditions. We applied the prediction model to the data of the EST after classifying the substances according to the published criteria. In addition, a simplified classification of the EST results into two classes as an approach to hazard assessment was compared to the European Union Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) Regulation labels of the substances. With one exception, substances that are labeled as reproductive toxicants according to the CLP Regulation were detected as embryotoxic in the EST while substances without label were found to be non-embryotoxic according to the EST.

Comparative study of the zebrafish embryonic toxicity test and mouse embryonic stem cell test to screen developmental toxicity of human pharmaceutical drugs

“…In other reports, the accuracies of the ZET (87% and 90%) (Brannen et al, 2010;Yamashita et al, 2014) and mEST (78% and 100%) (Genschow et al, 2002;Riebeling et al, 2015) were higher than those in our study. The reason for the lower accuracy in our assay system is unclear.…”

“…The mEST was performed according to the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM) international validation study (Genschow et al, 2002;Matsumoto, 2009;Riebeling et al, 2015). Briefly, ES-D3 cells and 3T3 fibroblasts were treated with chemicals for 10 days.…”