Towards a 21st-century roadmap for biomedical research and drug discovery:consensus report and recommendations

Decades of costly failures in translating drug candidates from preclinical disease models to human therapeutic use warrant reconsideration of the priority placed on animal models in biomedical research. Following an international workshop attended by experts from academia, government institutions, research funding bodies, and the corporate and nongovernmental organisation (NGO) sectors, in this consensus report, we analyse, as case studies, five disease areas with major unmet needs for new treatments. In view of the scientifically driven transition towards a human pathway-based paradigm in toxicology, a similar paradigm shift appears to be justified in biomedical research. There is a pressing need for an approach that strategically implements advanced, human biology-based models and tools to understand disease pathways at multiple biological scales. We present recommendations to help achieve this

OECD validation study to assess intra- and inter-laboratory reproducibility of the zebrafish embryo toxicity test for acute aquatic toxicity testing

The OECD validation study of the zebrafish embryo acute toxicity test (ZFET) for acute aquatic toxicity testing evaluated the ZFET reproducibility by testing 20 chemicals at 5 different concentrations in 3 independent runs in at least 3 laboratories. Stock solutions and test concentrations were analytically confirmed for 11 chemicals. Newly fertilised zebrafish eggs (20/concentration and control) were exposed for 96 h to chemicals. Four apical endpoints were recorded daily as indicators of acute lethality: coagulation of the embryo, lack of somite formation, non-detachment of the tail bud from the yolk sac and lack of heartbeat. Results (LC50 values for 48/96 h exposure) show that the ZFET is a robust method with a good intra- and inter-laboratory reproducibility (CV 30%) for some very toxic or volatile chemicals, and chemicals tested close to their limit of solubility. The ZFET is now available as OECD Test Guideline 236. Considering the high predictive capacity of the ZFET demonstrated by Belanger et al. (2013) in their retrospective analysis of acute fish toxicity and fish embryo acute toxicity data, the ZFET is ready to be considered for acute fish toxicity for regulatory purposes

Development of a new screening assay to identify proteratogenic compounds using Zebrafish Danio rerio embryo combined with an exogenous mammalian metabolic activation system (mDarT)

The assessment of teratogenic effects of chemicals is generally performed using in vivo teratogenicity assays e.g., in rats or rabbits. Following the 3R principles, the development of alternative methods is encouraged to reduce the number of animal tests. From this perspective, we have developed an in vitro assay (mDarT) using the zebrafish Danio rerio embryo teratogenicity assay (DarT) combined with an exogenous mammalian metabolic activation system (MAS), able to biotransform proteratogenic compounds. Cyclophosphamide, ethanol, benzo[a]pyrene and thalidomide were used as test materials to assess the efficiency of this assay. Briefly, the zebrafish embryos were co-cultured at 2 hpf (hours post fertilization) with the test material at varying concentrations, mammalian liver microsomes from different species and NADPH for 60 min at 32°C under moderate agitation in Tris buffer. The negative control (test material alone) and the MAS control (MAS alone) were incubated in parallel. For each test group, 20 eggs were used for statistical robustness. Afterwards fish embryos were transferred individually into 24-well plates filled with fish medium for 48 hours at 26°C with a 12 hour-light cycle. Teratogenicity was scored after 24 and 48 hpf using morphological endpoints. The test was considered to be valid if a minimum of 90% of fish eggs developed normally for the two controls (test material alone and MAS alone). For each test material, the experiment was repeated three times with the controls satisfying the validation criteria (≤ 10% impaired embryos). Indeed, no significant teratogenic effects were observed compared to controls in fish embryos exposed to the proteratogens alone (i.e., without metabolic activation) or the MAS alone. In contrast, the four test materials induced significant abnormalities in fish embryos when co-incubated with animal liver microsomes. For cyclophosphamide, ethanol and thalidomide a concentration-response relationship was shown and the qualitative nature of the malformations was similar between fish embryos and humans. Benzo[a]pyrene was demonstrated to be significantly teratogenic in fish embryos in spite of no concentration-response and unspecific teratogenic fingerprints. We conclude that the application of animal liver microsomes will improve and refine the DarT as a predictive and valuable alternative method to screen teratogenic substances

Development of a new screening assay to identify proteratogenic compounds using Zebrafish Danio rerio embryo combined with an exogenous mammalian metabolic activation system (mDarT)

The assessment of teratogenic effects of chemicals is generally performed using in vivo teratogenicity assays e.g., in rats or rabbits. Following the 3R principles, the development of alternative methods is encouraged to reduce the number of animal tests. From this perspective, we have developed an in vitro assay (mDarT) using the zebrafish Danio rerio embryo teratogenicity assay (DarT) combined with an exogenous mammalian metabolic activation system (MAS), able to biotransform proteratogenic compounds. Cyclophosphamide, ethanol, benzo[a]pyrene and thalidomide were used as test materials to assess the efficiency of this assay. Briefly, the zebrafish embryos were co-cultured at 2 hpf (hours post fertilization) with the test material at varying concentrations, mammalian liver microsomes from different species and NADPH for 60 min at 32°C under moderate agitation in Tris buffer. The negative control (test material alone) and the MAS control (MAS alone) were incubated in parallel. For each test group, 20 eggs were used for statistical robustness. Afterwards fish embryos were transferred individually into 24-well plates filled with fish medium for 48 hours at 26°C with a 12 hour-light cycle. Teratogenicity was scored after 24 and 48 hpf using morphological endpoints. The test was considered to be valid if a minimum of 90% of fish eggs developed normally for the two controls (test material alone and MAS alone). For each test material, the experiment was repeated three times with the controls satisfying the validation criteria (≤ 10% impaired embryos). Indeed, no significant teratogenic effects were observed compared to controls in fish embryos exposed to the proteratogens alone (i.e., without metabolic activation) or the MAS alone. In contrast, the four test materials induced significant abnormalities in fish embryos when co-incubated with animal liver microsomes. For cyclophosphamide, ethanol and thalidomide a concentration-response relationship was shown and the qualitative nature of the malformations was similar between fish embryos and humans. Benzo[a]pyrene was demonstrated to be significantly teratogenic in fish embryos in spite of no concentration-response and unspecific teratogenic fingerprints. We conclude that the application of animal liver microsomes will improve and refine the DarT as a predictive and valuable alternative method to screen teratogenic substances

Science Communication in Alternatives to Animal testing: Raising awareness beyond the community

Session IX-6: Breaking down barriers and promoting international cooperation on 3Rsabsen

Equation of state and opacities for warm dense matter

This work presents recent developments in the calculation of opacity and equation of state tables suitable for including in the radiation hydrodynamic code ARWEN [1] to study processes like ICF or X-ray secondary sources. For these calculations we use the code bigbart to compute opacities in LTE conditions, with self-consistent data generated with the Flexible Atomic Code (FAC) [2]. Non-LTE effects are approximately taken into account by means of the new RADIOM model developed in [3], which makes use of existing LTE data tables. We use the screened-hydrogenic model [4] to derive the Equation of State (EOS) using the population and energy of each level

Safer chemicals using less animals: kick-off of the European ONTOX project.

The 3Rs concept, calling for replacement, reduction and refinement of animal experimentation, is receiving increasing attention around the world, and has found its way to legislation, in particular in the European Union. This is aligned by continuing high-level efforts of the European Commission to support development and implementation of 3Rs methods. In this respect, the European project called "ONTOX: ontology-driven and artificial intelligence-based repeated dose toxicity testing of chemicals for next generation risk assessment" was recently initiated with the goal to provide a functional and sustainable solution for advancing human risk assessment of chemicals without the use of animals in line with the principles of 21st century toxicity testing and next generation risk assessment. ONTOX will deliver a generic strategy to create new approach methodologies (NAMs) in order to predict systemic repeated dose toxicity effects that, upon combination with tailored exposure assessment, will enable human risk assessment. For proof-of-concept purposes, focus is put on NAMs addressing adversities in the liver, kidneys and developing brain induced by a variety of chemicals. The NAMs each consist of a computational system based on artificial intelligence and are fed by biological, toxicological, chemical and kinetic data. Data are consecutively integrated in physiological maps, quantitative adverse outcome pathway networks and ontology frameworks. Supported by artificial intelligence, data gaps are identified and are filled by targeted in vitro and in silico testing. ONTOX is anticipated to have a deep and long-lasting impact at many levels, in particular by consolidating Europe's world-leading position regarding the development, exploitation, regulation and application of animal-free methods for human risk assessment of chemicals