The era of 3Rs implementation in developmental and reproductive toxicity (DART) testing: Current overview and future perspectives

- Recent update developmental and reproductive toxicity testing in respect of the 3Rs.
- Applied changes currently focused on reduction and refinement of animal testing.
- Ongoing scientific and technical innovations will provide the means for replacement.
- Additionally, these new developments will improve predictivity in humans.

Since adoption of the first globally implemented guidelines for developmental and reproductive toxicity (DART) testing for pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals and agrochemicals, many years passed without major updates. However in recent years, significant changes in these guidelines have been made or are being implemented. These changes have been guided by the ethical drive to reduce, refine and replace (3R) animal testing, as well as the addition of endocrine disruptor relevant endpoints. Recent applied improvements have focused on reduction and refinement. Ongoing scientific and technical innovations will provide the means for replacement of animal testing in the future and will improve predictivity in humans. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of ongoing global DART endeavors in respect to the 3Rs, with an outlook towards future advances in DART testing aspiring to reduce animal testing to a minimum and the supreme ambition towards animal-free hazard and risk assessment.