The Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing is an academic center affiliated with the Division of Toxicological Sciences in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

 

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

Research Grants 1984-1985

The Establishment and Validation of an In Vitro System to Evaluate Neuronal Toxicity

Harvey Singer, MD
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland

Harvey S. Singer, MD of the Hopkins School of Medicine, received a new grant to investigate a hybrid cell -- formed by the fusion of cells from rat and mouse nerve tumors -- which mimics the effects of human nervous system disorders called gangliosidosis. Currently, cats must be used to study this disease in which nerve cells fail to produce an essential enzyme, leading to paralysis, blindness and death before the victim's fifth birthday.

Dr. Singer is exposing the hybrid cells to a chemical that renders the enzyme inactive, thereby imitating the disease. He hopes to use these cells to evaluate the toxic effects of drugs and other chemicals on the nervous system.