NEUROTOX

The project creates an innovative service for assessing and predicting the toxic effects of pharmacological substances and chemical agents based on in vitro models (without animal testing) of the nervous system.

In particular, it aims to consolidate a reference database of the neuroactive effects of an extended set of chemicals, assessed by changes in the electrophysiological activity of neurons, accompanied by a set of detailed information on the activation of specific biological and biophysical processes that determine the change itself. The aim is to assess the effects of substances on different in vitro models of the nervous system, i.e. the different areas that make up the brain (cortex, thalamus, spinal cord), in order to obtain as much information as possible about the chemicals, to provide a basis for subsequent screening, classification and toxicological prediction of complex substances (e.g. mixtures), and at the same time to validate new alternative cell culture methods, such as stem cell cultures, that may allow full implementation of the 3Rs.