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Cell-Free Assays in Environmental Toxicology

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A Systems Biology Approach to Advancing Adverse Outcome Pathways for Risk Assessment

Abstract

Predictive toxicology requires in vitro tests that can help prioritize, screen, and evaluate a large number of chemicals (i.e., thousands) in a relatively short period of time (days to weeks). Cell-free assays represent a relatively simple in vitro tool that can characterize the interaction between test chemicals and biochemical targets, and are increasingly being used to study a range of fish and wildlife, and also screen single chemicals as well as complex mixtures of environmental samples. The purpose of this chapter is to describe cell-free assays, and propose them as a species agnostic, in vitro toxicity-testing tool of potential relevance to ecological risk assessment. In doing so, the chapter aims to show that cell-free tests are an attractive tool that can be used in predictive ecotoxicology especially considering the limited availability of test organisms (particularly species that are at-risk, difficult to maintain in captivity, etc.), lack of proven cell-based tools (e.g., cell cultures and cell lines), societal concerns over animal testing, sheer number of ecological species to study, and vast inter-species differences.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, H9X 3V9, QC, Canada

    Adeline Arini, Krittika Mittal & Niladri Basu

  2. Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Niladri Basu

Authors
  1. Adeline Arini
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  2. Krittika Mittal
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  3. Niladri Basu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Niladri Basu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Laboratory, US Army Engineer Research & Development Center, Vicksburg, Mississippi, USA

    Natàlia Garcia-Reyero

  2. Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA

    Cheryl A. Murphy

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Arini, A., Mittal, K., Basu, N. (2018). Cell-Free Assays in Environmental Toxicology. In: Garcia-Reyero, N., Murphy, C. (eds) A Systems Biology Approach to Advancing Adverse Outcome Pathways for Risk Assessment. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66084-4_3

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