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 1991-1992

An In Vitro Bioassay for Antiprogesterone Activity Associated with Early Abortion

Robert M. Bigsby, PhD
Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana

Compounds that act as antagonists to progesterone can induce abortion during early pregnancy. Dr. Bigsby has proposed to develop an in vitro bioassay that will screen for potential progesterone antagonists. It will be useful in investigating numerous drugs and environmental contaminants which could be implicated in causing spontaneous early abortion through antiprogestin activity. The bioassay could also be used by companies attempting to discover antiprogestins such as RU486. Currently, in vivo assays for progestin-antiprogestin action use guinea pigs, rats and rabbits, with one animal per test dose. The proposed in vitro assay would suffice for one animal per 20-30 test doses and could lead to an elimination of animal usage for this important screening requirement.