An Early-Life Stage Alternative Testing Strategy for Assessing the Impacts of Environmental Chemicals in Birds.

Early-life stage (ELS) toxicity tests are recognized as an advancement over current testing methodologies in terms of cost, animal use, and biological relevance. However, standardized ELS tests are not presently available for some vertebrate taxa, including birds. The present study describes a Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) ELS test that is a promising candidate for standardization and applies it to test 8 environmental chemicals (ethinylestradiol, benzo[a]pyrene, chlorpyrifos, fluoxetine, lead(II)nitrate, trenbolone, seleno-L-methionine, hexabromocyclododecane).