Initial interlaboratory validation study of FETAX: phase I testing

An interlaboratory validation study was undertaken to evaluate the repeatability and reliability of the Frog Embryo Teratogenesis Assay-Xenopus (FETAX), which is a whole embryo developmental toxicity screening assay. A three-phase experimental program with seven participants was carried out. Phase I was a training and protocol evaluation phase where the identity of the three test materials was known. Hydroxyurea, isoniazid and 6-aminonicotinamide were tested in Phase I. Because the chemicals has been tested previously in FETAX, the same concentrations needed to establish the 96-h median lethal concentration (LC50) and the concentration inducing malformations in 50% of the surviving embryos (EC50) were used by all laboratories. The results of Phase I are presented in this report, and FETAX has proved to be as repeatable and reliable as many other bioassays. Some excess variation was observed in individual laboratories. Some of this variation may have been due to training difficulties. One change in protocol design necessitated by this study was the use of 6-aminonicotinamide as a reference toxicant. While 6-aminonicotinamide provided excellent concentration-response data in most laboratories, the protocol was written too strictly based on historical FETAX data. Phases II and III are currently in progress.