A brief survey is given of the neurotoxic mechanisms of selected industrial compounds. They can be divided for practical purposes into hypoxic or histotoxic mechanisms, reactive metabolite-mediated mechanisms and effects related to the accumulated burden. It is clear that this classification is not necessarily valid for the developing nervous system. Therefore, it is suggested that complete test systems for neurotoxic effects should also include prenatal and neonatal exposure. This inclusion is even more important because a significant proportion of embryotoxic or teratogenic effects are related to deleterious changes in the nervous system. An understanding of these developmental effects should also help in the design of epidemiologic studies.