THE IPCS COLLABORATIVE STUDY ON NEUROBEHAVIORAL SCREENING METHODS - III - RESULTS OF PROFICIENCY STUDIES

The goal of the IPCS Collaborative Study on Neurobehavioral Screening Methods was to determine the intra- and inter-laboratory reliability o f a functional observational battery (FOB) and an automated assessment of motor activity in eight laboratories world-wide. The first phase o f the Collaborative Study involved training the participants: evidence of training was then evaluated using positive-control compounds. The positive-control studies required the laboratories to identify, using the FOE, specific neurotoxic syndromes produced by acute exposure to p ,p'-DDT, parathion, and by short-term repeated dosing with acrylamide. For the sake of expediency, only one dose of each chemical was used i nstead of collecting dose-response data. Motor activity test chambers were not of uniform design. The laboratories were therefore required t o demonstrate adequate sensitivity by the ability to detect statistica lly-significant activity increases and decreases produced by triadimef on and chlorpromazine, respectively, following acute administration of a range of doses. The resulting FOE and motor activity data showed va riability in the magnitude of effects obtained: some oi these differen ces were attributed to miscommunications, difficulties with the techni ques or protocol, or the limitations of having only one dose. All labo ratories, however, successfully met the criteria set forth by the Stud y Steering Committee. (C) 1997 Intox Press, Inc.