Terminology of developmental abnormalities in common laboratory mammals (Version 2)

Abstract

This update (Version 2) of the Terminology of Developmental Abnormalities in Common Laboratory Mammals (Version 1) by Wise et al. (1997) incorporates improvements and enhancements to both content and organization of the terminology, to enable greater flexibility in its application, while maintaining a consistent approach to the description of findings. The revisions are the result of an international collaboration among interested organizations, advised by individual experts and the outcomes of several workshops. The terminology remains organized into tables under the broad categories of external, visceral, and skeletal observations, following the manner in which data are typically collected and recorded in developmental toxicity studies. This arrangement of the tables, as well as other information provided in appendices, is intended to facilitate the process of specimen evaluation at the laboratory bench level. Only the commonly used laboratory mammals (i.e., rats, mice, rabbits) are addressed in the current terminology tables. The inclusion of other species that are used in developmental toxicity testing, such as primates, is considered outside the scope of the present update. Similarly, categorization of findings as, for example, "malformation" or "variation" remains unaddressed, in accordance with the overall principle that the focus of this document is descriptive terminology and not diagnosis/interpretation. The skeletal terms have been augmented to accommodate cartilage findings.

A roadmap for the development of alternative (non-animal) methods for systemic toxicity testing

“…Historically, the developmental toxicology community has embraced this concept, with international collaborative projects and publications on terminology used in the evaluation of fetal specimens (e.g., Makris et al, 2009;Wise et al, 1997). This same attention to consistency and precision in terminology must also be applied to new technologies for developmental toxicity testing.…”

Zebrafish—As an integrative model for twenty‐first century toxicity testing

“…Although zebrafish embryo models have shown potential usefulness in predictive screening developmental toxicants, this statement is made with regards to aggregation of endpoints, rather than considering specific phenotypes or classes of defects: concordance with species-specific animal models and the zebrafish embryo has yet to be determined. Concordance in the fundamental pathways underlying specific defects with conserved developmental processes would give a plausible link to mammalian developmental toxicity, although such comparisons would eventually be aided by mapping the ontology used to annotate zebrafish developmental defects with an internationally harmonized terminology for mammalian studies (Makris et al, 2009). …”

Prenatal development toxicity study of zinc oxide nanoparticles in rats

“…Terminology suggested in an internationally developed glossary of terms was used to classify the structural developmental abnormalities in common laboratory mammals. 34 …”