Validation of the postimplantation rat whole-embryo culture test in the international ECVAM validation study on three in vitro embryotoxicity tests

By Piersma, A.H. - Genschow, E. - Verhoef, A. - Spanjersberg, M.Q.I. - Brown, N.A. - Brady, M. - Burns, A. - Clemann, N. - Seiler, A. - Spielmann, H.

A detailed report is presented on the performance of the postimplantation rat whole-embryo culture (WEC) test in a European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM)-sponsored formal validation study on three in vitro tests for embryotoxicity. Twenty coded test chemicals, classified as non-embryotoxic, weakly embryotoxic or strongly embryotoxic on the basis of their in vivo effects in animals and/or humans, were tested in four laboratories. The outcome showed that the WEC test can be considered to be a scientifically validated test, which is ready for consideration for use in assessing the embryotoxic potentials of chemicals for regulatory purposes.