ToxSci Advance Access published online on June 11, 2008
Toxicological Sciences, doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfn115
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Published by Oxford University Press 2008.
Development of a high-throughput screening assay for chemical effects on proliferation and viability of immortalized human neural progenitor cells
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* The Curriculum in Toxicology, UNC School of Medicine, CB #7270, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
Neurotoxicology Division, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, B105-05, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA
Correspondence: Timothy J. Shafer, Ph.D., USEPA, Neurotoxicology Division, B105-05, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, Phone: 919-541-0629, FAX: 919-541-4849
Received March 14, 2008; revision received June 4, 2008; accepted June 5, 2008
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Abstract |
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There is considerable public concern that the majority of commercial chemicals have not been evaluated for their potential to cause developmental neurotoxicity. While several chemicals are assessed annually under the current developmental neurotoxicity guidelines, time, resource and animal constraints prevent testing of large numbers of chemicals using this approach. Thus, incentive is mounting to develop in vitro methods to screen chemicals for their potential to harm the developing human nervous system. As an initial step toward this end, the present studies evaluated an automated, high-throughput method for screening chemical effects on proliferation and viability using ReNcell CX cells, a human neural progenitor cell line. ReNcell CX cells doubled in 
36 hrs and expressed the neural progenitor markers nestin and SOX2. High-throughput assays for cell proliferation (BrdU incorporation) and viability (propridium iodide exclusion) were optimized and tested using known anti-proliferative compounds. The utility of this in vitro screen was evaluated further using a set of compounds containing eight known to cause developmental neurotoxicity and eight presumably non-toxic compounds. Six out of eight developmental neurotoxicants significantly inhibited ReNcell CX cell proliferation and/or viability, whereas two out of eight non-toxic chemicals caused only minimal effects. These results demonstrate that chemical effects on cell proliferation and viability can be assessed via high-throughput methods using human neural progenitor cells. Further development of this approach as part of a strategy to screen compounds for potential effects on nervous system development is warranted.
# Current address: Cellumen Inc, Pittsburg, PA
Author email addresses: breier.joseph{at}epa.gov, nradio{at}cellumen.com, mundy.william{at}epa.gov, shafer.tim{at}epa.gov