Hwang Inho, Jeung Eui-Bae
Laboratory of Veterinary Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Republic of Korea.
Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Dec 18;25(24):13566. doi: 10.3390/ijms252413566.
The increasing emphasis on animal welfare and ethics, as well as the considerable time and cost involved with animal testing, have prompted the replacement of many aspects of animal testing with alternative methods. In the area of developmental toxicity, the embryonic stem cell test (EST) has played a significant role. The EST evaluates toxicity using mouse embryonic stem cells and somatic cells and observes the changes in heartbeat after cardiac differentiation. Nevertheless, the EST is a relatively complex testing process, and an in vitro test requires a long duration. Several attempts have been made to develop a more straightforward testing method than the EST, with improved reproducibility and accuracy, leading to the development of the embryoid body test (EBT) Unlike the EST, which involves cardiac differentiation stages, the EBT verifies toxicity by measuring the changes in the area of the embryoid body. Despite its short testing period and simple procedure, the EBT offers high accuracy and reproducibility and is fully validated through two rounds of validation, making it ready for practical application. The EBT is expected to play a crucial role in the rapidly increasing demand for alternative methods to animal testing, particularly for screening early developmental toxicity.
对动物福利和伦理的日益重视，以及动物试验所涉及的大量时间和成本，促使人们用替代方法取代动物试验的许多方面。在发育毒性领域，胚胎干细胞试验（EST）发挥了重要作用。EST使用小鼠胚胎干细胞和体细胞评估毒性，并观察心脏分化后心跳的变化。然而，EST是一个相对复杂的测试过程，体外测试需要较长时间。人们已经进行了几次尝试，以开发一种比EST更直接的测试方法，提高其重现性和准确性，从而导致了胚状体试验（EBT）的发展。与涉及心脏分化阶段的EST不同，EBT通过测量胚状体面积的变化来验证毒性。尽管EBT测试周期短、程序简单，但具有高准确性和重现性，并通过两轮验证得到充分验证，可投入实际应用。预计EBT将在对动物试验替代方法迅速增长的需求中发挥关键作用，特别是在早期发育毒性筛查方面。
