Introduction to the ILSI Research Foundation/Risk Science Institute reports from the expert working group on neurodevelopmental endpoints.

In 2004 the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Risk Science Institute established an expert working group to assess the lessons learned from the implementation of standardized tests for developmental neurotoxicity in experimental animals. This introduction summarizes the working group process and the four reports from the expert working group addressing: the use of positive controls, understanding variability, appropriate statistical techniques, and interpretation. The reports address the 1991 US Environmental Protection Agency standardized protocol for evaluation of developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) and the 2007 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Test Guidelines for DNT. The EPA protocol is comprised of tests for evidence of deficits in neurobehavioral function, including auditory startle habituation, motor activity, associative learning and memory, and neuropathologic examination, including simple morphometric analysis.