Agrochemical

ZeClinics is committed to streamlining agrochemical research and development of novel crop protection products with zebrafish; an ideal aquatic organism for fast, cost-effective, and highly predictive assessments.

Our developmental and environmental toxicity platform in zebrafish provides agrochemical and chemical companies a path to examine the potential impact on flora and fauna of chemicals, crop protection agents, and biocides. 

In recent years, Zebrafish has been largely used as an alternative model for testing water quality using a plethora of behavioral and developmental assays and specifically for pesticides and pollutants.

There is an increasing concern about the environmental and human impact of chemicals, in particular those that have the ability to disrupt the endocrine system. Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDC) interfere with hormonal processes, which can result in adverse effects on development, neurological function, immune response, and reproduction in humans and wildlife. EDCs are associated with the development of type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, reproductive dysfunction, and certain types of cancer.

Studies on endocrine disruption are considered a priority in the policies of many environmental- and health-regulatory bodies, such as the World Health Organisation, the USA Environmental Protection Agency, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), and the European Commission, which has included the need for regulatory frameworks to reflect the potential risk of EDCs in the European Green Deal.

ECHA has classified a growing number of EDCs as substances of very high concern and recently included endocrine disruption assessments as a new criterion for the approval of biocides and plant products. Therefore, a wide range of industries (chemical, water, oil, food packaging, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, mining,…) needs to perform massive screening of chemicals for ecotoxicology regulatory purposes.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defined (2012) and revised (2018) test guidelines to determine the acute toxicity and endocrine disruption potential of chemicals in the environmental risk assessment of chemicals, mostly related to estrogenic, androgenic, thyroidal, and steroidogenic (EATS) related pathways. The Agency is also coordinating an International Regulatory and Scientific Effort for an improved Developmental Neurotoxicity Testing based on the in vitro battery as well as any other available new alternative methods including Zebrafish. Special interest is dedicated to chemical categories such as pesticides and emerging contaminants (i.e. flame retardants).

Zebrafish embryos have been proved excellent experimental systems and a suitable alternative to adult animal testing in toxicity studies, including the assessment of EDCs. As zebrafish share 70% of their genes with humans, observed effects on shared gene pathways are considered representative for other higher vertebrate species, including humans. 

ZeClinics offers several bioassays for toxicity screening of chemicals. Our solutions are performed in embryonic zebrafish and represent a 3Rs-aligned alternative for rapid, informative, and high throughput screenings.  As your partner, we can build a robust ecotoxicology data set to substantiate your chemical environmental and human safety claims.

View our Agrochemical services