Session information

Joint Symposium

[JS02] Current situation and future prospects for risk assessment of developmental neurotoxicity caused by thyroid function disruption

Fri. Mar 29, 2024 1:15 PM - 3:15 PM [Room 302] Conference Center 302 (3F)

Organizer: Tsuyoshi Nakanishi (Gifu Pharm. Univ.), Hiroaki Aoyama (IET)

Epidemiological studies in Europe and the United States have found an apparent correlation between maternal underactive thyroid function during pregnancy and decreased intelligence and other symptoms in the offspring, raising concerns about developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) due to thyroid hormone disruption caused by pesticides and other chemicals. This concern led to a measure in 2018 to add the assessment of thyroid-related indicators in relevant studies in test guidelines of toxicity. However, many unknowns remain regarding the linkage between variation in these related endpoints and DNT for offspring animals, and risk management for such chemicals is inadequate. In addition, the development of an in vitro battery test method to rapidly predict DNT of chemical substances and the practical application of the Comparative Thyroid Assay as an in vivo screening test to determine whether the DNT test should be conducted are under consideration. However, the interpretation of data obtained from these tests remains problems that need to be resolved before conducting risk assessment using these test methods. In this symposium, experts from various fields will talk about the basic findings on the physiological role of thyroid hormones in the development of the central nervous system, as well as the current status and future prospects of new in vivo and in vitro test methods that are under development.