Detailed Review Paper on the State of the Science on Novel In Vitro and In Vivo Screening and Testing Methods and Endpoints for Evaluating Endocrine Disruptors

This document describes some endocrine pathways that have been shown to be susceptible to environmental endocrine disruption and whose disruption could contribute to increasing incidents of some disorders in humans and wildlife populations, such as obesity/diabetes/metabolic syndrome, reproductive dysfunction, and neuro-developmental abnormalities. Assays and endpoints are described that could be used in new or existing OECD Test Guidelines for evaluating chemicals for endocrine-disrupting activity. Endocrine pathways evaluated are the hypothalamus:pituitary:adrenocortical (HPA) axis, the hypothalamus:pituitary:gonad (HPG) axis, the somatotropic axis, the retinoid signaling pathway, the hypothalamus:pituitary:thyroid (HPT) axis, the vitamin D signaling pathway, and the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) signaling pathway.