In Vitro Toxicity Testing of Environmental Agents

These two volumes contain the papers presented at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Advanced Study Institute held on September 22-28, 1979 in Monte Carlo, Monaco. The conference was entitled "In Vitro Toxicity Testing of Environmental Agents: Current and Future Possibilities." This international conference presented an opportunity for the participants to exchange informa tion and ideas on the current approaches (both scientific and po litical) for toxic assessment of environmental agents. The poten tial health effects of these compounds as well as future needs in the environmental research field were discussed. The scientific content of the conference seminars included an overview of the various cellular, subcellular, organ, animal, and genetic systems which have been used to assess the health effects of environmental agents. The scientific principles behind short term assays and an evaluation of their applicability to health effects monitoring and analysis were investigated. Included among major topics were: (1) the biochemistry and pharmacology of selected environmental agents; (2) molecular mechanisms of car cinogenesis, mutagenesis, and transformation; (3) bacterial muta genesis and toxicity; (4) mammalian cell mutagenesis, toxicity, and transformation; (5) in vitro carcinogens and mutagens; (6) teratogenic and other developmental toxic effects; and (7) the development of short-term neuro-behavioral toxicity assays.

Contenu
A: Survey of Test Systems.- I. Mutagenesis Testing: Prokaryotic Systems.- Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis and Chromosomal Carcinogenesis: A Suimnary Review.- Molecular Principles Underlying the Ames Salmonella/Microsome Test: Elements and Design of Short-Term Mutagenesis Tests.- Bacillus subtilis Rec-Assay With and Without Metabolic Activation: Improvements and Applications.- A Simple, Forward Selection Scheme for Independently Determining the Toxicity and Mutagenic Effect of Environmental Chemicals: Measuring Replica- tive Killing of Escherichia coli by an Integrated Fragment of Bacteriophage Lambda DNA.- The Use of Salmonella Bacteriophage P22 To Study the Multiple Mechanisms of Acridine-Induced Damage.- II. Mutagenesis Testing: Eukaryotic Systems.- Use of a Ciliated Protozoan as a Model System To Detect Toxic and Carcinogenic Agents.- In Vivo Assay To Screen for Mutagens/Carcinogens in the Nematode C. elegans.- The Maize-Microbe Bioassay: A Unique Approach to Environmental Mutagenesis.- Mutagenicity of Ambient Air at Selected Sites in the United States Using Tradescantia as a Monitor.- Tradescantia Micronuclei (TRAD-MCN) Test for Environmental Clastogens.- Metabolic Activation and Mutagenic Properties of Procarcinogens in Drosophila.- Mammalian Cell Mutagenesis: Relevance for Detection of Environmental Mutagens/Carcinogens.- Quantitative Mammalian Cell Mutagenesis and Mutagen Screening: Study With Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells.- III. In Vitro Carcinogenesis Testing.- In Vitro Carcinogenesis With Cell Lines.- Modulation of Induced Quantitative Mammalian Cell Transformation.- Chemical Carcinogenesis In Vitro: Limitations and Possibilities in the Use of Rat Liver Epithelial Cells for Screening Carcinogens.- IV. Neurobehavioral Toxicity Testing.- Behavioral Assays in environmental Toxicology.- Prenatal Exposure to Environmental Chemicals as a Test System for Neurotoxicology.- Mechanisms in Heavy Metal Toxicity.- Use of Cultures of Neuroblastoma and Glioma as a Model System To Study the Heavy Metal-Induced Neurotoxicity.- Neurochemical Approaches to Toxicity Testing: Artificial Food Dyes.- In Vitro Approaches to Neurotoxicity--A Physiologist's Perspective.- V. End-Organ Toxicity Testing.- Migration Inhibition of Alveolar Macrophages: An Assay System for Evaluating Toxicity of Pollutant Chemicals.- Environmental Factors in Renal Disease.- Indexes (Combined for Part A and Part B volumes).- Author Index.