Legradi J, el Abdellaoui N, van Pomeren M, Legler J
Institute for Environmental Studies, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2015 Nov;22(21):16277-89. doi: 10.1007/s11356-014-3805-8. Epub 2014 Nov 18.
Testing of compounds for neurotoxicity has become increasingly important in recent years. It has been shown that neurological disorders like autism may be related to chemical exposures, which may play a crucial role in the progression of these diseases. Special attention has been be given to the substances causing developmental neurotoxicity as the developing nervous system is more vulnerable to impacts by chemicals than the adult nervous system. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a well-established model species in developmental biology and an emerging model in behavioural and neurological studies. Zebrafish larvae display numerous behavioural patterns highly similar to rodents and humans. Their physical characteristics make them well suited for automated high-throughput screening. In the last years, the number of behavioural studies conducted with zebrafish larvae has increased notably. The goal of this review is to provide an overview of behavioural assays commonly used to test substances for developmental neurotoxicity. Literature from 1995 to 2014 was reviewed and focussed on assays performed with zebrafish larvae younger than 7 days post fertilization (dpf). The behavioural tests were scrutinized, and parameters describing the different experimental setups were defined. In the next step, we investigated if differences in the experimental parameters alter the outcome of the test. In order to test the comparability of behavioural assays, we analysed several studies using ethanol, valproate and pentylenetetrazole as model substances. Based on our findings, we provide recommendations which could help improve future behavioural studies performed with zebrafish larvae.
近年来,化合物的神经毒性测试变得越来越重要。研究表明,自闭症等神经系统疾病可能与化学物质暴露有关,这些化学物质可能在这些疾病的发展过程中起关键作用。由于发育中的神经系统比成年神经系统更容易受到化学物质的影响,因此引起发育性神经毒性的物质受到了特别关注。斑马鱼(Danio rerio)是发育生物学中一个成熟的模式物种,也是行为学和神经学研究中的新兴模式。斑马鱼幼虫表现出许多与啮齿动物和人类高度相似的行为模式。它们的身体特征使其非常适合自动化高通量筛选。在过去几年中,用斑马鱼幼虫进行的行为学研究数量显著增加。本综述的目的是概述常用于测试物质发育神经毒性的行为学试验。回顾了1995年至2014年的文献,重点关注对受精后7天内(dpf)的斑马鱼幼虫进行的试验。对行为测试进行了审查,并定义了描述不同实验设置的参数。下一步,我们研究了实验参数的差异是否会改变测试结果。为了测试行为学试验的可比性,我们分析了几项使用乙醇、丙戊酸盐和戊四氮作为模型物质的研究。基于我们的发现,我们提供了一些建议,这些建议可能有助于改进未来用斑马鱼幼虫进行的行为学研究。