Extended histopathology in immunotoxicity testing: Interlaboratory validation studies
article
There has been considerable interest in the use of expanded histopathology as a primary screen for immunotoxicity assessment. To determine the utility of a semiquantitative histopathology approach for examining specific structural and architectural changes in lymphoid tissues, a validation effort was initiated. This study addresses the interlaboratory reproducibility of extended histopathology, using tissues from studies of ten test chemicals and both negative and positive controls from the National Toxicology Program's immunotoxicology testing program. We examined the consistency between experienced toxicologic pathologists, who had varied expertise in immunohistopathology in identifying lesions in immune tissues, and in the sensitivity of the individual and combined histopathological endpoints to detect chemical effects and dose response. Factor analysis was used to estimate the association of each pathologist with a so-called "common factor" and analysis-of-variance methods were used to evaluate biases. Agreement between pathologists was highest in the thymus, in particular, when evaluating cortical cellularity of the thymus; good in spleen follicular cellularity and in spleen and lymph node-germinal center development; and poorest in spleen red-pulp changes. In addition, the ability to identify histopathological change in lymphoid tissues was dependent upon the experience/training that the individual pathologist possessed in examining lymphoid tissue and the apparent severity of the specific lesion. © Society of Toxicology 2004; all rights reserved.
Topics
Physiological SciencesHistopathologyImmunologyImmunopathologyLymph nodePathologyRisk assessmentSpleenThymusChemical agentAnalysis of varianceAnimal cellAnimal tissueCellular distributionConcentration responseControlled studyDisease severityErrorExperienceFactorial analysisFemalegerminal centerHealth programHistopathologyImmunopathologyImmunotoxicityIntermethod comparisonLaboratory testLymph nodeLymphatic system diseaseLymphoid tissueMedical educationMedical expertMouseNonhumanObserver variationOrganogenesisPathologistQuantitative analysisReproducibilityScreening testSensitivity analysisSpleen cellThymusTissue injuryTissue structureToxicity testingValidation processAllergy and ImmunologyAnimalsComputational BiologyData Interpretation, StatisticalDose-Response Relationship, DrugHistologyImmune SystemLaboratoriesModels, StatisticalReproducibility of ResultsTerminologyToxicology
TNO Identifier
237658
ISSN
10966080
Source
Toxicological Sciences, 78(1), pp. 107-115.
Pages
107-115
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