An In Vitro Cellular Bioassay for Assessment and Investigation of Neurotoxicity

This invention provides high speed, low cost, and highly accurate neurotoxicity and developmental neurotoxicity screening methods for a wide variety of compounds.

Background:
Neurotoxicity tests are designed to generate definitive data concerning the adverse effects of a neurotoxic substance on human or animal health or the environment. Neurotoxicity tests examine chemically induced adverse effects on the brain, spinal cord and/or peripheral nervous system. An assay capable of identifying neurotoxic compounds with sufficient accuracy to rule out the need for further animal testing could have significant market value, both in reducing the number of laboratory animals used and saving money and research time.

Applications:

• Two primary screening methods to determine the neurotoxicity of a wide-range of compounds
• Applicable to any drug, organic molecule, inorganic molecule, polypeptide, protein, peptide, nucleic acid molecule, inhibitory nucleic acid molecule, or small molecule

Advantages:

• High-speed
• Low-cost
• Highly accurate
• Reduces requirements of laboratory animal testing (space, time, cost)
• Screens a wide range of compounds

Status: issued U.S. patent #8,785,149