Stem Cell‐Based Methods for Identifying Developmental Toxicity Potential

This chapter discusses the current tests used to identify developmental toxicity potential, the need for new testing strategies, technologies that can be used to develop these strategies, and the alternatives in development that are based on human embryonic stem (hES) cells. Pluripotent stem (PS) cell research dates back almost 40 years to the early 1970s, when the first mouse embryonic carcinoma (EC) cell lines were established. Metabolites are generated from the action of enzymes and are the intermediates or end products of cellular regulatory processes. The basis of using embryonic stem cells for developmental toxicity testing was pioneered in the 1990s with the development of the mouse embryonic stem cell test (mEST). Metabolomics and hPS cell-based assays, independently, are exciting new approaches that can advance the field of developmental toxicity screening toward the directive put forth by the NRC's Tox21c report.