October 14, 2025 by Becky Brown

In May 2024, wca participated in a workshop on fish vitellogenin (VTG) assessment and a report of the workshop has just been published in the journal Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management. The workshop covered key areas of VTG analysis including general technical issues and quantification of VTG, data handling and data interpretation. The aim of the workshop was to scope a proposal for an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidance Document on VTG analysis and assessment, a project which is now being taken forward by the OECD.

This workshop came about partly due a collaboration between scientists from wca, the agrochemical industry and the UK National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) which highlighted the challenges in conducting VTG analysis and in interpreting the results for regulatory purposes.

The workshop was attended by Dr Becky Brown (becky.brown@wca-consulting.com) and Dr Grace Panter (grace.panter@wca-consulting.com) from wca. A summary of our previous work on VTG assessment in fish can be found here.

Becky and Grace lead work on endocrine disruptor assessments at wca. Please contact us if you have any questions on VTG assessment and interpretation or enquiries on how we can help with an endocrine disruptor assessment for your substance.

Further related wca blogs:

Conducting and interpreting vitellogenin measurements in fish for regulatory purposes

Detection of anti-androgenic activity of chemicals in fish studies: a data review

Image credit: iStock.com/GlobalP