Structural determinants of developmental toxicity in hamsters.

A CASE/MULTICASE structure activity relationship (SAR) model of developmental toxicity of chemicals in hamsters (HaDT) was developed. The model exhibited a predictive performance of 74%. The model's overall predictivity and informational content were similar to those of an SAR model of mutagenicity in Salmonella. However, unlike the Salmonella mutagenicity model, the HaDT model did not identify overtly chemically reactive moieties as associated with activity. Moreover, examination of the number and nature of significant structural determinants suggested that developmental toxicity in hamsters was not the result of a unique mechanism or attack on a specific molecular target. The analysis also indicated that the availability of experimental data on additional chemicals would improve the performance of the SAR model.