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 2005-2006

Sea urchins as an alternative animal model for testing drugs and neurotoxicants as potential neuroteratogens

Jean M. Lauder, PhD
University of North Carolina School of Medicine

The purpose of these studies is to utilize sea urchin embryos, which use brain chemicals (neurotransmitters) to regulate their early growth and development, as biosensors to screen drugs or environmental neurotoxicants for potential deleterious effects on prenatal development. The experiments characterize malformations caused by particular test substances, identify which embryonic cell populations are affected, and investigate cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying these effects. Specific aim 1 determines the developmental time course of malformations caused by drugs (such as those used to treat depression, mood disorders, or seizures) and neurotoxins (pesticides, crop molds, retinoic acid), and determines which compounds (for example, folic acid), can prevent these malformations. In vitro fertilization of eggs is used to obtain embryos for testing. Embryos, developing in artificial sea water (ASW), are exposed to test compounds or control solutions and digitally photographed at times when normal embryos are at specific stages of development (e.g., mid-blastula, early gastrula). Knowledge of which compounds prevent malformations caused by specific drugs or neurotoxins will be used to design experiments in Specific Aim 2 to investigate cellular and molecular mechanisms contributing to malformations.