Moser V C
National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA.
Neurotoxicology. 2000 Dec;21(6):989-96.
Neurobehavioral screening methods, such as the functional observational battery (FOB), are now widely used to identify potential neurotoxicity of new and existing chemicals. These methods have been validated and a large database now exists for the effects of a wide range of chemicals. Since most of the observations recorded are subjective, the quality of the test data depends largely on the observer's ability to detect and describe changes in the animal's behavior and neurologic function. Efforts are underway to aid in the training of observers and to achieve consistency across laboratories in the use of these methods. With the increasing concern over potential neurotoxicological consequences of chemical exposure in the developing organism, there is growing interest in testing laboratory animals at very young ages. We present here an initial report of the development of an FOB suitable for young rats, using some modifications of the individual adult FOB test measures to make them age-appropriate. We have evaluated pre- and postweanling rats to determine the range of behaviors (as evaluated with the FOB) displayed at each age, develop appropriate scoring criteria, and collect control data to document the ontogeny of each of the endpoints in the FOB. This revised FOB protocol may be useful for assessing behavioral or neurological changes due to acute chemical exposure in young rats, or following gestational/lactational exposures typical of developmental neurotoxicity studies.
神经行为学筛查方法，如功能性观察组合测试（FOB），目前已被广泛用于识别新的和现有的化学物质的潜在神经毒性。这些方法已经得到验证，现在存在一个关于各种化学物质影响的大型数据库。由于记录的大多数观察结果是主观的，测试数据的质量在很大程度上取决于观察者检测和描述动物行为和神经功能变化的能力。目前正在努力帮助培训观察者，并在各实验室之间实现这些方法使用的一致性。随着对发育中的生物体接触化学物质可能产生的神经毒理学后果的日益关注，在非常年幼的年龄对实验动物进行测试的兴趣也在增加。我们在此报告一项初步研究，即开发一种适用于幼鼠的FOB，对成年个体的FOB测试方法进行了一些修改，使其适合幼鼠的年龄。我们评估了断奶前和断奶后的大鼠，以确定每个年龄阶段表现出的行为范围（用FOB评估），制定适当的评分标准，并收集对照数据以记录FOB中每个终点的个体发育情况。这种修订后的FOB方案可能有助于评估幼鼠因急性化学物质暴露或发育神经毒性研究中典型的孕期/哺乳期暴露而导致的行为或神经变化。
