Dear colleagues,

Although metabolism was originally considered to be the inactivation or detoxification of foreign compounds, today it is generally accepted that metabolism-mediated effects are an important issue in regulatory toxicity. Learning from historical examples of in vitro genotoxicity methods including hepatic metabolic competent sources proposed for regulatory risk assessment, it is important for all in vitro methods dealing with toxic potency testing of compounds to carefully consider human metabolism-mediated effects. The role of metabolism is particularly important when examining chemically induced target system and target organ effects. As such, both kinetic processes and metabolism-mediated considerations need to be at the forefront of risk assessment strategies of the 21st century based on the integration of data generated from in vitro and in silico methods. For studying, e.g., metabolism pathways and species differences, conducting dose-selection, assessing effects of chemicals on endogenous metabolism or identifying bio-activation, a multitude of reliable and relevant in vitro and in silico test methods can be used.

The Special Issue will give insight into the new generation of in vitro and in silico toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic methods that identify chemical interference with the metabolism of endogenous compounds and physiological processes, including investigations of whether the effect is likely to be of human relevance. Using specific chemical-, metabolism- and biokinetic-dependent in vitro and in silico method indicators, the design of the most valuable and predictive integrated test strategies will be shown. The collection of contributions by the expert community in the field aims to stimulate discussion on the way forward in developing new risk assessment strategies for capturing complex target organ and target system toxicity effects and will show that adequate development, optimization, standardization and integration of the next generation of in vitro and in silico methods and globally harmonized coordination of efforts are critical in this process.

Dr. Sandra Coecke
Guest Editor

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• human
• in vitro
• in silico
• new approach methods
• NAMs
• ADME toolbox
• ADME framework