Zebrafish as a Model to Evaluate Nanoparticle Toxicity

Abstract

Nanoparticles are increasingly being developed for in vivo use, from targeted drug delivery to diagnostics, where they have enormous potential, while they are also being used for a variety of applications that can result in environmental exposure for humans. Understanding how specific nanoparticles interact with cells and cell systems is essential to gauge their safety with respect to either clinical or environmental exposure. Zebrafish is being increasingly employed as a model to evaluate nanoparticle biocompatibility. This review describes this model and how it can be used to assess nanoparticle toxicity at multiple levels, including mortality, teratogenicity, immunotoxicity, genotoxicity, as well as alterations in reproduction, behavior and a range of other physiological readouts. This review also provides an overview of studies using this model to assess the toxicity of metal, metal oxide and carbon-based nanoparticles. It is anticipated that this information will inform research aimed at developing biocompatible nanoparticles for a range of uses.

The Current Understanding of Autophagy in Nanomaterial Toxicity and Its Implementation in Safety Assessment-Related Alternative Testing Strategies

“…The extensive applications of nanoparticles in various aspects of daily life, such as the healthcare and industrial sectors, have increased the concern of their impact on human health and the environment [70,71]. Several models have been applied to investigate the toxicity of nanomaterials, including rodent, cell culture, zebrafish, and Drosophila system models [72][73][74]. Although the higher-vertebrate platform is an important model for evaluating complicated physiological situations, vertebrates present various disadvantages that make them ill-suited for use in exploring nanotoxicity [75].…”

“…The vertebrate animals are costly to obtain, time-consuming to maintain, and may not align with animal welfare concerns. Therefore, cell culture, zebrafish, and Drosophila models have become attractive alternative approaches due to their high throughput and cost efficiency [73,76].…”

“…Zebrafish constitute a well-established model that is often applied to study issues of development, disease, and environmental contamination [77][78][79][80]. They exhibit various advantages that make them suitable for studying toxicology [73,81]. Zebrafish are highly efficient models due to their high reproduction rates [81].…”

Metal Nanoparticles in Surface Waters – a Risk to Aquatic Organisms

“…The migrations and behaviour of these pollutants can pose environmental and human risks [10], [13][14][15] This has provoked discussions about the safety of, and potential risks associated with, nanotechnology. A strong emphasis has been placed on determining the toxicity of nanostructures to various groups of organisms, including perennials, wheat, bacteria, protozoa, macrophytes, earthworms, fish, mice and rats [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. It also appears extremely important to determine the characteristics and stability of nanoparticles in order to understand how they function in aqueous solutions and interact with standard substances in the environment [1], [9][10][11][12].…”

“…Dlatego też nanotechnologia jest przedmiotem dyskusji w kontekście bezpieczeństwa i ryzyka. Duży nacisk położony jest na określenie toksyczności nanostruktur w odniesieniu do różnych grup organizmów, w tym bylin, pszenicy, bakterii, pierwotniaków, makrofitów, dżdżownic, ryb, myszy, szczurów [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. Określenie cech i stabilności nanocząstek jest bardzo istotne, gdyż pozwala także zrozumieć ich funkcjonowanie w roztworach wodnych oraz w interakcji z podstawowymi substancjami obecnymi w środowisku [1], [9][10][11][12].…”