Potential Applications of Noninvasive Techniques to Toxicology

National Capital Area Chapter

Society of Toxicology

Fall Symposium

December 13, 2002

Towers Auditorium

Howard University Hospital Complex

2041 Georgia Ave. NW

Washington, DC

NCAC-SOT Fall Symposium

The goal of this symposium is to introduce and discuss noninvasive techniques that may have application to a number of toxicological endpoints. Toxicology has progressed in no small measure by incorporating/adopting procedures from other biological and sometimes physical sciences. Some in the scientific community think imaging technologies hold great promise to increase our ability to study physiological processes and in particular how those processes are disturbed by various chemicals. These techniques run the gamut from magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, computer-assisted tomography to positron emission tomography. Each more than likely can make some contribution to advancing toxicology, but the question is how. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages as well. What are those and how can the advantages best be utilized? There are certain practical benefits of using this new technology none the least of which is use of fewer animals and it would more than likely allow toxicologists to better interpret physiological data. A thorough discussion of these techniques between those who are developing and those who would use them is needed. It is hoped this symposium will help bring this about and allow for a better determination of how and when these techniques can be expected to contribute in significant fashion to toxicology.

7:45 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:30 a.m. Welcome and Opening Comments

Susan Makris

President, NCAC-SOT

Sidney Green

Program Chair

8:45 a.m. Novel Applications of MRI in Cancer

Dmitri Artemov, The Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine

9:25 a.m. The Use of MRI for Evaluation of Fixed Tissues After

Toxic Insult

Jan N. Johannessen, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition,

US Food and Drug Administration

10:05 a.m. Noninvasive Echocardiography to Evaluate Cardiac Toxicity in Awake Mice and Rats

Kathleen Gabrielson, The Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine

10:45-11:10 a.m. Discussion

11:10-11:30 a.m. Break

11:30 a.m. In Vivo Imaging of Gene Delivery and Expression

Alexei Bogdanov, Jr., Center for Molecular Imaging Research, Massachusetts General Hospital

12:10 p.m. Lunch and Annual Business Meeting for NCAC-SOT Members

1:15 p.m. Image-Based Phenotyping in Toxicology

G. Allan Johnson, Center for In Vivo Microscopy, Duke Medical Center

1:55 p.m. Application of Magnetic Resonance Histology (MRH) to Morphometric Assessment of the Developing Rat Brain

D. Martin Fridmann, US Environmental Protection Agency

2:35 p.m. Discussion

3:00 p.m. Concluding Comments