title: Comparing in vivo, in vitro and in silico methods and integrated strategies for chemical assessment: problems and prospects.
abstract: The RAINBOW workshop addressed the background for the integration of in vivo, in vitro and computer-based (in silico) methods, to facilitate the study of the toxic properties of chemicals. On the basis of these discussions, we prepared the present paper, outlining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of each approach, both alone and integrated into a single testing strategy. The current scheme for evaluation of chemicals needs to be reshaped, in the face of the much larger numbers of chemicals which need to be examined and the availability of a diversified set of tools.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche 'Mario Negri', Via La Masa 19, 20156 Milano, Italy. benfenati@marionegri.it
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Benfenati
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gini
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Luttik
mesh_terms: D000826:Animal Testing Alternatives / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D000818:Animals; D003201:Computers; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D006801:Humans; D009152:Mutagenicity Tests / Q000379:methods; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012984:Software; D018675:Toxicity Tests / Q000592:standards*
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants