On September 20, 2016 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) announced the publication of five recently endorsed Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOPs). The documents were published in the dedicated outlet OECD Series on Adverse Outcome Pathways.
The published AOPs include:
- Adverse Outcome Pathway on protein alkylation leading to liver fibrosis
- Adverse Outcome Pathway on alkylation of DNA in male pre-meiotic germ cells leading to heritable mutations
- Adverse Outcome Pathway on aromatase inhibition leading to reproductive dysfunction (in fish)
- Adverse Outcome Pathway on chronic binding of antagonist to N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) during brain development induces impairment of learning and memory abilities
- Adverse Outcome Pathway on binding of agonists to ionotropic glutamate receptors in adult brain leading to excitotoxicity that mediates neuronal cell death, contributing to learning and memory impairment
An article published on September 30, 2016 in the newsletter of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of European Commission informs that three of the five OECD-endorsed AOPs were developed by JRC researchers (one on liver fibrosis and the two related to neurotoxicity). These AOPs, as “novel knowledge management tools in toxicology,” are expected to support human health risk assessment, and help replace the animal testing by alternative assays. JRC sees great potential in the AOP-based approach to chemical risk assessment, and has recently started working on developing AOPs for nanomaterials as well.
AOPs are knowledge tools developed to allow for a better integration of mechanistic pathway-based data obtained from computational modeling and alternative (animal-free) testing methods into risk assessment frameworks. In its new background article on AOPs, Food Packaging Forum provides a short introduction to AOPs, discussing the AOP definition, AOP development programs and use of AOPs in diverse research fields, along with several shortcomings of the AOP framework.
Read more
OECD (September 20, 2016). “OECD launched a new Series on Adverse Outcome Pathways on i-Library.”
JRC (September 30, 2016). “Advancing non-animal testing methods: first set of novel knowledge tools published.”
JRC (April 4, 2017). “Understanding nanomaterial toxicity by leveraging mechanistic information on chemicals.”
References
Gerloff, K. et al. (2016). “The Adverse Outcome Pathway approach in nanotoxicology.” Computational Toxicology (published online August 24, 2016).
Landesmann, B. (August 4, 2016). “Adverse Outcome Pathway on protein alkylation leading to liver fibrosis.” OECD Series on Adverse Outcome Pathways
Yauk, C. et al. (August 4, 2016). “Adverse Outcome Pathway on alkylation of DNA in male pre-meiotic germ cells leading to heritable mutations.” OECD Series on Adverse Outcome Pathways
Villeneuve, D. (August 6, 2016). “Adverse Outcome Pathway on aromatase inhibition leading to reproductive dysfunction (in fish).” OECD Series on Adverse Outcome Pathways
Sachana, M. et al. (August 13, 2016). “Adverse Outcome Pathway on chronic binding of antagonist to N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) during brain development induces impairment of learning and memory abilities.” OECD Series on Adverse Outcome Pathways
Sachana, M. et al. (September 9, 2016). “Adverse Outcome Pathway on binding of agonists to ionotropic glutamate receptors in adult brain leading to excitotoxicity that mediates neuronal cell death, contributing to learning and memory impairment.” OECD Series on Adverse Outcome Pathways
