Alternatives to in vivo tests for teratologic screening.

During the last decade there has been a tremendous increase in publications describing methods for in vitro toxicological research and emphasizing their advantages, suitability and necessity, rather than the classical in vivo studies. In this review we shall look at and consider only a few short term tests, chosen on the basis of the particular relevance that they have in the evaluation of the substances: rodent whole embryo culture (for both pre- and post-implantation embryos), non-mammalian vertebrate embryo and invertebrate embryo cultures, organ culture, and at last cell culture. We have seen however that sometimes some of the developed methods suit neither the necessity of saving time, money, and animals, nor the consistency of the results in xenobiotic screening. The concomitant application of both in vivo and in vitro methodologies will improve the quality of teratological research, and therefore will contribute to a critical evaluation of developmental hazards.