Zebrafish Toxicology

It is a fact that zebrafish are an excellent vertebrate model for developmental research. They share many molecular, biochemical, cellular, and physiological characteristics with higher vertebrates.

It is a fact that zebrafish are an excellent vertebrate model for developmental research. They share many molecular, biochemical, cellular, and physiological characteristics with higher vertebrates. Zebrafish possess recognizable organ systems, such as liver, heart, kidney, and pancreas. The embryos of zebrafish develop externally and are optically transparent. This allows for simple, noninvasive microscopic observations of individual cells and systems across a broad range of developmental stages, as well as for visual inspection of organ-specific toxicological effects. But it is not just a matter of development. New insights in toxicology using zebrafish demonstrate that it can be used to define and connect changes along the entire spectrum of toxicity research. Zebrafish toxicology is essential since it can be used to model toxicity from the initial intoxication, through the molecular initiating event, changes at the cellular, tissue, and organ levels in a fast manner. Finally, changes in phenotype, including alterations in growth and development or behavior and disease outcomes, can be easily observed. Also, the use of zebrafish for personalized medicine and gene-environment interaction research offer exciting opportunities to discover specific alleles functionally linked to chemical susceptibilities. The developmental characteristics of the small fish are strategically being used by scientists to study topics ranging from high-throughput toxicity screens to toxicity in multi- and transgenerational studies. High-throughput technology has increased the utility of zebrafish embryonic toxicity assays in the screening of chemicals and drugs for toxicity or effect. Long-term toxicity can be predicted from studies with early life-stages, a good reason why using zebrafish larvae in toxicology screening. ZeClinics will initiate every molecule safety study by testing its Acute Toxicity. This assay will allow the assessing of its possible lethality and teratogenicity.