Editorial: Methods and Protocols in Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology

Methods and Protocols in Developmental and Reproductive ToxicologyUndisturbed reproductive development is a prerequisite for life-long reproductive health.Many stages of perinatal life are vulnerable to disturbances such as exposure to environmental chemicals and drugs that can interfere with molecular and cellular processes.Of concern is the enormous number of chemicals and pharmaceuticals in existence and for which humans and wildlife can be exposed through their life cycles (Rockström et al., 2009;Svingen and Vinggaard, 2016;Hougaard, 2021).Although there are international regulations and guidelines in place for testing and assessing chemical substances for their potential toxicity, they are in many ways inadequate in dealing with the vast number of chemicals in use coupled with the myriad of potential effect they can have on complex living organisms.This challenge is becoming even more pressing with modern toxicology moving towards higher dependence on alternative test methods rather than more traditional large-scale animal toxicity testing for screening and prioritizing chemical substances of concern (Pistollato et al., 2021).This is not least important in hypothesisdriven testing, or predictive toxicology, where knowledge about toxicological mechanisms and measurable key events increasingly feed into causal adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) (Ankley & Edwards, 2018;Audouze et al., 2021;Paini et al., 2022;Svingen et al., 2022).Once robust AOPs have been developed, chemicals can increasingly be assessed using alternative methods; in essence reducing the reliance on more traditional in vivo (animal) protocols.Thus, to ensure a safe environment for future generations, we need methods that can cut down on resources needed to carry out scientific research and enable hazard identification and safety assessment based on limited, or even no testing, in complex biological systems.The 21st Century has witnessed great strides towards this endeavor and this development will undoubtedly continue to move in the right direction.Yet, limitations with reductionist methodologies must simultaneously be considered when devising testing strategies relying on alternative test methods to properly account for emergent properties in complex organisms (Svingen, 2022).Standardized and validated protocols are critically important in regulatory toxicology.However, formal validation and acceptance of new methods for hazard assessment, such as under the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), is laborious and time-consuming.Common guidelines for the reporting of experimental results are also very useful, but only if endorsed by the scientific community.Here, scientific journals play a role in providing a forum where scientists across subdisciplines of toxicology can share methods and protocols that are tried and tested.This can encourage dialogue on ways by which toxicological research is conducted.On this background, we invited contributions on methods and protocols in developmental and reproductive toxicology to hopefully in the longer term improve our capacity to test and assess chemical substances in a reproducible and widely accepted manner.

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