Sites of female reproductive vulnerability: implications for testing and risk assessment.

All reproductive toxicity testing, whether in vivo or in vitro, should be conducted with consideration of the ultimate use of the data for reproductive risk assessment and the protection of human reproductive health. In this review selected sites of vulnerability in the female reproductive system are identified. These sites of female reproductive vulnerability may be utilized for in vitro toxicity testing assays, and the data from assays may be employed in the hazard identification and hazard characterization steps necessary for reproductive risk assessment. Using biomarkers of female reproductive function derived from in vitro toxicity testing it is possible to define functions that characterize female fecundity. These characterizations of female fecundity may be used to quantitate reproductive risk in human populations.