Collaborative Behavioral Teratology Study: protocol design and testing procedures.

This paper presents background information on the methods used in the Collaborative Behavioral Teratology Study (CBTS), the rationale behind the experimental design, and the design and specific procedures used in the CBTS. Each of the following methods is discussed: negative geotaxis, olfactory discrimination, auditory startle habituation, one-hour activity in the figure-8 maze, visual discrimination learning, 23-hour activity in the figure-8 maze, and amphetamine-stimulated activity. The CBTS was designed to determine the intra- and interlaboratory reliability of these test methods and the detection sensitivity of each method, as well as to determine the importance of several major variables (early test experience, gender, litter). The important design features which permitted these evaluations are discussed. Each laboratory conducted two independent experiments: one using d-amphetamine sulfate as the test agent and one using methylmercuric chloride. Other than the use of different agents and dosing regimens in the two studies, all other characteristics of experimental design were identical. Each study was conducted in four replicates with 4 litters/each of 4 treatment groups/replicate. The replicate design was an important feature which permitted reliability of the tests to be addressed under conditions in which several other sources of variation in responding could be identified and accounted for in the model. Other methods by which optimal testing conditions were implemented in the participating laboratories included the "blind" testing of all subjects in specific orders which were counterbalanced for treatment group, time of day, and the apparatus in which the animals were placed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)