The central mission of Core III is to serve as a focus for mechanistic research in neurotoxicology and developmental toxicology. The specific goals of Core III are to:

• elucidate the mechanisms underlying selective vulnerability of cells and anatomical regions in the nervous system
  
  
• investigate the cellular and molecular changes occurring during development which confer susceptibility to neurotoxic insult,
  
  
• develop and characterize models of neurological diseases which may have neurotoxic etiologies, and to use these models to elucidate mechanisms of neural response to xenobiotic insult, and
  
  
• provide, on a collaborative basis, expertise, facilities, and training to investigators within Core III and other EHS Center Cores for the examination morphological, pathological or enzymatic endpoints in toxicological studies. The unifying goal of this Core is to bring contemporary multi-disciplinary expertise to bear on major issues in neurotoxicology.