title: [Complex biological systems as experimental and prenatal toxicology models].
abstract: Experimental biomedical sciences have emphasised the use of model systems in the study and understanding of physiological and pathological processes. Developmental biology, genetics and prenatal toxicology, dealing with cellular differentiation, organogenesis and dismorphogenic alterations, have shown that system models, even those far removed from mammals and humans in the zoological scale (e.g. C. elegans, Hydra, Drosophila), can be useful tools for understanding pathogen mechanisms in developmental toxicology. In particular the study of neural tube and its alterations shows how a biologically complex model (such as the laboratory rodent) necessitates, in turn, a series of models to thoroughly analyse and clarify the limits and levels of research.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Tossicologia Comparata ed Ecotossicologia, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ricciardi
mesh_terms: D000014:Abnormalities, Drug-Induced / Q000196:embryology / Q000209:etiology*; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000187:drug effects / Q000196:embryology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000187:drug effects*; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000187:drug effects; D006829:Hydra / Q000187:drug effects; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000187:drug effects / Q000196:embryology; D008322:Mammals / Q000196:embryology; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000187:drug effects; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D009436:Neural Tube Defects / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000196:embryology; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D013045:Species Specificity; D014116:Toxicology / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins
vernacular_title: Sistemi biologici complessi come modelli sperimentali e di tossicologia prenatale.