The OECD program to validate the rat uterotrophic bioassay to screen compounds for in vivo estrogenic responses:: Phase 1

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has completed the first phase of an international validation program for the rodent uterotrophic bioassay. This uterotrophic bioassay is intended to identify the in vivo activity of compounds that are suspected agonists or antagonists of estrogen. This information could, for example, be used to help prioritize positive compounds for further testing. Using draft protocols, we tested and compared two model systems, the immature female rat and the adult ovariectomized rat. Data from 19 participating laboratories using a high-potency reference agonist, ethinyl estradiol (EE), and an antagonist, ZM 189,154, indicate no substantive performance differences between models. All laboratories and an protocols successfully detected increases in uterine weights using EE in phase 1. These significant uterine weight increases were achieved under a variety of experimental conditions (e.g., strain, diet, housing protocol, bedding, vehicle). For each protocol, there was generally good agreement among laboratories with regard to the actual EE doses both in producing the first significant increase in uterine weights and achieving the maximum uterine response. Furthermore, the Hill equation appears to model the dose response satisfactorily and indicates general agreement based on calculated effective dose (ED)(10) and ED50 within and among laboratories. The feasibility of an antagonist assay was also successfully demonstrated. Therefore, both models appear robust, reproducible, and transferable across laboratories for high-potency estrogen agonists such as EE. For the next phase of the OECD validation program, both models will be tested against a battery of weak, partial estrogen agonists.