Developmental Neurotoxicology addresses a number of basic principles underlying the vulnerability of the developing nervous system to environmental toxicant exposure. Evidence of functional alterations, induced at levels of chemical exposure that fail to produce structural teratological alterations, indicates that the evaluation of the functional capacity of exposed animals may indeed offer a sensitive evaluation of developmental toxicity. The contributing authors discuss the basic principles of development in structure and functional components and present information covering various methodological approaches, as well as evidence for the value of examining the developing nervous system for environmentally induced perturbations. The final chapter covers how this type of data is used to evaluate human risk potential.
