Recommendations for Improving Methods and Models for Aquatic Hazard Assessment of Ionizable Organic Chemicals

Background Chemical toxicity testing is being transformed by advances in biology and computer modeling, concerns over animal use, and the thousands of environmental chemicals lacking toxicity data. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ToxCast program aims to address these concerns by screening and prioritizing chemicals for potential human toxicity using in vitro assays and in silico approaches. Objectives This project aims to evaluate the use of in vitro assays for understanding the types of molecular and pathway perturbations caused by environmental chemicals and to build initial prioritization models of in vivo toxicity. Methods We tested 309 mostly pesticide active chemicals in 467 assays across nine technologies, including high-throughput cell-free assays and cell-based assays, in multiple human primary cells and cell lines plus rat primary hepatocytes. Both individual and composite scores for effects on genes and pathways were analyzed. Results Chemicals displayed a broad spectrum of activity at the molecular and pathway levels. We saw many expected interactions, including endocrine and xenobiotic metabolism enzyme activity. Chemicals ranged in promiscuity across pathways, from no activity to affecting dozens of pathways. We found a statistically significant inverse association between the number of pathways perturbed by a chemical at low in vitro concentrations and the lowest in vivo dose at which a chemical causes toxicity. We also found associations between a small set of in vitro assays and rodent liver lesion formation. Conclusions This approach promises to provide meaningful data on the thousands of untested environmental chemicals and to guide targeted testing of environmental contaminants.

Uncouplers of oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria inhibit the coupling between the electron transport and phosphorylation reactions and thus inhibit ATP synthesis without affecting the respiratory chain and ATP synthase (H(+)-ATPase). Miscellaneous compounds are known to be uncouplers, but weakly acidic uncouplers are representative because they show very potent activities. The most potent uncouplers discovered so far are the hindered phenol SF 6847, and hydrophobic salicylanilide S-13, which are active in vitro at concentrations in the 10 nM range. For induction of uncoupling, an acid dissociable group, bulky hydrophobic moiety and strong electron-withdrawing group are required. Weakly acidic uncouplers are considered to produce uncoupling by their protonophoric action in the H(+)-impermeable mitochondrial membrane. For exerting these effects, the stability of the respective uncoupler anions in the hydrophobic membrane is very important. High stability is achieved by delocalization of the polar ionic charge through uncoupler (chemical)-specific mechanisms. Such an action of weakly acidic uncouplers is characteristic of the highly efficient membrane targeting action of a nonsite-specific type of bioactive compound.