Courtney E. W. Sulentic
Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio

The purpose of this lecture is to discuss the importance of animal research to biomedical sciences and toxicology and the ethical obligations of the scientific community to follow the “3Rs” of animal testing (refine, reduce, replace) whenever it is feasible. Following this discussion the remainder of the lecture will briefly describe Dr. Sulentic’s current research utilizing an in vitro alternative to understand mechanisms in altered immune function.

The immune system is critical to human survival but also plays a contributing role in various mechanisms of toxicity. Assessing alterations of immune function by potential immunotoxicants is complicated by the diffuse nature of the immune system which is composed of various effector cells each with differing functions. Current immunotoxicity testing relies heavily on animal studies underscoring the need to develop and implement alternative approaches.

Dr. Sulentic will discuss a cell line model developed to provide an in vitro alternative to animal studies in identifying immunotoxicants that specifically target B-cell function (i.e., alteration of immunoglobulin expression and antibody secretion) as well as elucidating the mechanisms of altered B-cell function.