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Bauer B, Mally A, Liedtke D. Zebrafish Embryos and Larvae as Alternative Animal Models for Toxicity Testing. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:13417. [PMID: 34948215 PMCID: PMC8707050 DOI: 10.3390/ijms222413417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2021] [Revised: 12/07/2021] [Accepted: 12/10/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Prerequisite to any biological laboratory assay employing living animals is consideration about its necessity, feasibility, ethics and the potential harm caused during an experiment. The imperative of these thoughts has led to the formulation of the 3R-principle, which today is a pivotal scientific standard of animal experimentation worldwide. The rising amount of laboratory investigations utilizing living animals throughout the last decades, either for regulatory concerns or for basic science, demands the development of alternative methods in accordance with 3R to help reduce experiments in mammals. This demand has resulted in investigation of additional vertebrate species displaying favourable biological properties. One prominent species among these is the zebrafish (Danio rerio), as these small laboratory ray-finned fish are well established in science today and feature outstanding biological characteristics. In this review, we highlight the advantages and general prerequisites of zebrafish embryos and larvae before free-feeding stages for toxicological testing, with a particular focus on cardio-, neuro, hepato- and nephrotoxicity. Furthermore, we discuss toxicokinetics, current advances in utilizing zebrafish for organ toxicity testing and highlight how advanced laboratory methods (such as automation, advanced imaging and genetic techniques) can refine future toxicological studies in this species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benedikt Bauer
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Julius-Maximilians-University, 97078 Würzburg, Germany; (B.B.); (A.M.)
| | - Angela Mally
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Julius-Maximilians-University, 97078 Würzburg, Germany; (B.B.); (A.M.)
| | - Daniel Liedtke
- Institute of Human Genetics, Julius-Maximilians-University, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
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Rose LD, Akob DM, Tuberty SR, Corsi SR, DeCicco LA, Colby JD, Martin DJ. Use of high-throughput screening results to prioritize chemicals for potential adverse biological effects within a West Virginia watershed. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2019; 677:362-372. [PMID: 31059879 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.180] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2019] [Revised: 04/10/2019] [Accepted: 04/11/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Organic chemicals from industrial, agricultural, and residential activities can enter surface waters through regulated and unregulated discharges, combined sewer overflows, stormwater runoff, accidental spills, and leaking septic-conveyance systems on a daily basis. The impact of point and nonpoint contaminant sources can result in adverse biological effects for organisms living in or near surface waters. Assessing the adverse or toxic effects that may result when exposure occurs is complicated by the fact that many commonly used chemicals lack toxicity information or water quality standards. To address these challenges, an exposure-activity ratio (EAR) screening approach was used to prioritize environmental chemistry data in a West Virginia watershed (Wolf Creek). Wolf Creek is a drinking water source and recreation resource with documented water quality impacts from point and nonpoint sources. The EAR screening approach uses high-throughput screening (HTS) data from ToxCast as a method of integrating environmental chemical occurrence and biological effects data. Using water quality schedule 4433, which targets 69 organic waste compounds typically found in domestic and industrial wastewater, chemicals were screened for potential adverse biological affects at multiple sites in the Wolf Creek watershed. Cumulative EAR mixture values were greatest at Sites 2 and 3, where bisphenol A (BPA) and pentachlorophenol exhibited maximum EAR values of 0.05 and 0.002, respectively. Site 2 is downstream of an unconventional oil and gas (UOG) wastewater disposal facility with documented water quality impacts. Low-level organic contaminants were found at all sample sites in Wolf Creek, except Site 10, where Wolf Creek enters the New River. The application of an EAR screening approach allowed our study to extend beyond traditional environmental monitoring methods to identify multiple sites and chemicals that warrant further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Levi D Rose
- Appalachian State University, Department of Geography and Planning, NC 28607, USA.
| | | | - Shea R Tuberty
- Appalachian State University, Department of Biology, NC 28607, USA
| | | | | | - Jeffrey D Colby
- Appalachian State University, Department of Geography and Planning, NC 28607, USA
| | - Derek J Martin
- Appalachian State University, Department of Geography and Planning, NC 28607, USA
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Rusyn I, Greene N. The Impact of Novel Assessment Methodologies in Toxicology on Green Chemistry and Chemical Alternatives. Toxicol Sci 2019; 161:276-284. [PMID: 29378069 DOI: 10.1093/toxsci/kfx196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The field of experimental toxicology is rapidly advancing by incorporating novel techniques and methods that provide a much more granular view into the mechanisms of potential adverse effects of chemical exposures on human health. The data from various in vitro assays and computational models are useful not only for increasing confidence in hazard and risk decisions, but also are enabling better, faster and cheaper assessment of a greater number of compounds, mixtures, and complex products. This is of special value to the field of green chemistry where design of new materials or alternative uses of existing ones is driven, at least in part, by considerations of safety. This article reviews the state of the science and decision-making in scenarios when little to no data may be available to draw conclusions about which choice in green chemistry is "safer." It is clear that there is no "one size fits all" solution and multiple data streams need to be weighed in making a decision. Moreover, the overall level of familiarity of the decision-makers and scientists alike with new assessment methodologies, their validity, value and limitations is evolving. Thus, while the "impact" of the new developments in toxicology on the field of green chemistry is great already, it is premature to conclude that the data from new assessment methodologies have been widely accepted yet.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan Rusyn
- Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843
| | - Nigel Greene
- Predictive Compound Safety and ADME, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, Waltham, Massachusetts 02451
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Becker RA, Dreier DA, Manibusan MK, Cox LAT, Simon TW, Bus JS. How well can carcinogenicity be predicted by high throughput "characteristics of carcinogens" mechanistic data? Regul Toxicol Pharmacol 2017; 90:185-196. [PMID: 28866267 DOI: 10.1016/j.yrtph.2017.08.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2017] [Revised: 08/28/2017] [Accepted: 08/29/2017] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
IARC has begun using ToxCast/Tox21 data in efforts to represent key characteristics of carcinogens to organize and weigh mechanistic evidence in cancer hazard determinations and this implicit inference approach also is being considered by USEPA. To determine how well ToxCast/Tox21 data can explicitly predict cancer hazard, this approach was evaluated with statistical analyses and machine learning prediction algorithms. Substances USEPA previously classified as having cancer hazard potential were designated as positives and substances not posing a carcinogenic hazard were designated as negatives. Then ToxCast/Tox21 data were analyzed both with and without adjusting for the cytotoxicity burst effect commonly observed in such assays. Using the same assignments as IARC of ToxCast/Tox21 assays to the seven key characteristics of carcinogens, the ability to predict cancer hazard for each key characteristic, alone or in combination, was found to be no better than chance. Hence, we have little scientific confidence in IARC's inference models derived from current ToxCast/Tox21 assays for key characteristics to predict cancer. This finding supports the need for a more rigorous mode-of-action pathway-based framework to organize, evaluate, and integrate mechanistic evidence with animal toxicity, epidemiological investigations, and knowledge of exposure and dosimetry to evaluate potential carcinogenic hazards and risks to humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard A Becker
- American Chemistry Council, 700 Second St., NE, Washington DC 20002, USA.
| | - David A Dreier
- Center for Environmental & Human Toxicology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
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Richard AM, Judson RS, Houck KA, Grulke CM, Volarath P, Thillainadarajah I, Yang C, Rathman J, Martin MT, Wambaugh JF, Knudsen TB, Kancherla J, Mansouri K, Patlewicz G, Williams AJ, Little SB, Crofton KM, Thomas RS. ToxCast Chemical Landscape: Paving the Road to 21st Century Toxicology. Chem Res Toxicol 2016; 29:1225-51. [PMID: 27367298 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrestox.6b00135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 386] [Impact Index Per Article: 48.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) ToxCast program is testing a large library of Agency-relevant chemicals using in vitro high-throughput screening (HTS) approaches to support the development of improved toxicity prediction models. Launched in 2007, Phase I of the program screened 310 chemicals, mostly pesticides, across hundreds of ToxCast assay end points. In Phase II, the ToxCast library was expanded to 1878 chemicals, culminating in the public release of screening data at the end of 2013. Subsequent expansion in Phase III has resulted in more than 3800 chemicals actively undergoing ToxCast screening, 96% of which are also being screened in the multi-Agency Tox21 project. The chemical library unpinning these efforts plays a central role in defining the scope and potential application of ToxCast HTS results. The history of the phased construction of EPA's ToxCast library is reviewed, followed by a survey of the library contents from several different vantage points. CAS Registry Numbers are used to assess ToxCast library coverage of important toxicity, regulatory, and exposure inventories. Structure-based representations of ToxCast chemicals are then used to compute physicochemical properties, substructural features, and structural alerts for toxicity and biotransformation. Cheminformatics approaches using these varied representations are applied to defining the boundaries of HTS testability, evaluating chemical diversity, and comparing the ToxCast library to potential target application inventories, such as used in EPA's Endocrine Disruption Screening Program (EDSP). Through several examples, the ToxCast chemical library is demonstrated to provide comprehensive coverage of the knowledge domains and target inventories of potential interest to EPA. Furthermore, the varied representations and approaches presented here define local chemistry domains potentially worthy of further investigation (e.g., not currently covered in the testing library or defined by toxicity "alerts") to strategically support data mining and predictive toxicology modeling moving forward.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ann M Richard
- National Center for Computational Toxicology, Office of Research & Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , Mail Code B205-01, Research Triangle Park, Durham, North Carolina 27711, United States
| | - Richard S Judson
- National Center for Computational Toxicology, Office of Research & Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , Mail Code B205-01, Research Triangle Park, Durham, North Carolina 27711, United States
| | - Keith A Houck
- National Center for Computational Toxicology, Office of Research & Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , Mail Code B205-01, Research Triangle Park, Durham, North Carolina 27711, United States
| | - Christopher M Grulke
- National Center for Computational Toxicology, Office of Research & Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , Mail Code B205-01, Research Triangle Park, Durham, North Carolina 27711, United States
| | - Patra Volarath
- Center for Food Safety and Nutrition, U.S. Food and Drug Administration , 5100 Paint Branch Parkway, College Park, Maryland 20740, United States
| | - Inthirany Thillainadarajah
- Senior Environmental Employment Program, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , Research Triangle Park, Durham, North Carolina 27711, United States
| | - Chihae Yang
- Molecular Networks GmbH , Henkestraße 91, 91052 Erlangen, Germany.,Altamira, LLC , 1455 Candlewood Drive, Columbus, Ohio 43235, United States
| | - James Rathman
- Altamira, LLC , 1455 Candlewood Drive, Columbus, Ohio 43235, United States.,Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Ohio State University , 151 W. Woodruff Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43210, United States
| | - Matthew T Martin
- National Center for Computational Toxicology, Office of Research & Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , Mail Code B205-01, Research Triangle Park, Durham, North Carolina 27711, United States
| | - John F Wambaugh
- National Center for Computational Toxicology, Office of Research & Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , Mail Code B205-01, Research Triangle Park, Durham, North Carolina 27711, United States
| | - Thomas B Knudsen
- National Center for Computational Toxicology, Office of Research & Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , Mail Code B205-01, Research Triangle Park, Durham, North Carolina 27711, United States
| | - Jayaram Kancherla
- ORISE Fellow, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, Durham, North Carolina 27711, United States
| | - Kamel Mansouri
- ORISE Fellow, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, Durham, North Carolina 27711, United States
| | - Grace Patlewicz
- National Center for Computational Toxicology, Office of Research & Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , Mail Code B205-01, Research Triangle Park, Durham, North Carolina 27711, United States
| | - Antony J Williams
- National Center for Computational Toxicology, Office of Research & Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , Mail Code B205-01, Research Triangle Park, Durham, North Carolina 27711, United States
| | - Stephen B Little
- National Center for Computational Toxicology, Office of Research & Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , Mail Code B205-01, Research Triangle Park, Durham, North Carolina 27711, United States
| | - Kevin M Crofton
- National Center for Computational Toxicology, Office of Research & Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , Mail Code B205-01, Research Triangle Park, Durham, North Carolina 27711, United States
| | - Russell S Thomas
- National Center for Computational Toxicology, Office of Research & Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , Mail Code B205-01, Research Triangle Park, Durham, North Carolina 27711, United States
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Abstract
The US EPA's ToxCast program is screening thousands of chemicals of environmental interest in hundreds of in vitro high-throughput screening (HTS) assays. One goal is to prioritize chemicals for more detailed analyses based on activity in assays that target molecular initiating events (MIEs) of adverse outcome pathways (AOPs). However, the chemical space of interest for environmental exposure is much wider than ToxCast's chemical library. In silico methods such as quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) are proven and cost-effective approaches to predict biological activity for untested chemicals. However, empirical data is needed to build and validate QSARs. ToxCast has developed datasets for about 2000 chemicals ideal for training and testing QSAR models. The overall goal of the present work was to develop QSAR models to fill the data gaps in larger environmental chemical lists. The specific aim of the current work was to build QSAR models for 18 G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) assays, part of the aminergic family. Two QSAR modeling strategies were adopted: classification models were developed to separate chemicals into active/non-active classes, and then regression models were built to predict the potency values of the bioassays for the active chemicals. Multiple software programs were used to calculate constitutional, topological, and substructural molecular descriptors from two-dimensional (2D) chemical structures. Model-fitting methods included PLSDA (partial least square discriminant analysis), SVMs (support vector machines), kNNs (k-nearest neighbors), and PLSs (partial least squares). Genetic algorithms (GAs) were applied as a variable selection technique to select the most predictive molecular descriptors for each assay. N-fold cross-validation (CV) coupled with multi-criteria decision-making fitting criteria was used to evaluate the models. Finally, the models were applied to make predictions within the established chemical space limits. The most accurate model was for the bovine nonselective dopamine receptor (bDR_NS) GPCR assay, for which the classification balanced accuracy reached 0.96 in fitting and 0.95 in fivefold CV, with only two latent variables. These results demonstrate the accuracy of QSAR models to predict the biological activity of chemicals specifically for each one of the studied assays.
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Benigni R, Battistelli CL, Bossa C, Giuliani A, Tcheremenskaia O. Alternative Toxicity Testing: Analyses on Skin Sensitization, ToxCast Phases I and II, and Carcinogenicity Provide Indications on How to Model Mechanisms Linked to Adverse Outcome Pathways. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND HEALTH. PART C, ENVIRONMENTAL CARCINOGENESIS & ECOTOXICOLOGY REVIEWS 2015; 33:422-443. [PMID: 26398111 DOI: 10.1080/10590501.2015.1096885] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
This article studies alternative toxicological approaches, with new (skin sensitization, ToxCast) and previous (carcinogenicity) analyses. Quantitative modeling of rate-limiting steps in skin sensitization and carcinogenicity predicts the majority of toxicants. Similarly, successful (Quantitative) Structure-Activity Relationships models exploit the quantification of only one, or few rate-limiting steps. High-throughput assays within ToxCast point to promising associations with endocrine disruption, whereas markers for pathways intermediate events have limited correlation with most endpoints. Since the pathways may be very different (often not simple linear chains of events), quantitative analysis is necessary to identify the type of mechanism and build the appropriate model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Romualdo Benigni
- a Department of Environment and Health , Istituto Superiore di Sanita' , Rome , Italy
| | | | - Cecilia Bossa
- a Department of Environment and Health , Istituto Superiore di Sanita' , Rome , Italy
| | - Alessandro Giuliani
- a Department of Environment and Health , Istituto Superiore di Sanita' , Rome , Italy
| | - Olga Tcheremenskaia
- a Department of Environment and Health , Istituto Superiore di Sanita' , Rome , Italy
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Judson R, Houck K, Martin M, Knudsen T, Thomas RS, Sipes N, Shah I, Wambaugh J, Crofton K. In vitro and modelling approaches to risk assessment from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ToxCast programme. Basic Clin Pharmacol Toxicol 2014; 115:69-76. [PMID: 24684691 DOI: 10.1111/bcpt.12239] [Citation(s) in RCA: 97] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2014] [Accepted: 03/24/2014] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
A significant challenge in toxicology is the 'too many chemicals' problem. Human beings and environmental species are exposed to tens of thousands of chemicals, only a small percentage of which have been tested thoroughly using standard in vivo test methods. This study reviews several approaches that are being developed to deal with this problem by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under the umbrella of the ToxCast programme (http://epa.gov/ncct/toxcast/). The overall approach is broken into seven tasks: (i) identifying biological pathways that, when perturbed, can lead to toxicity; (ii) developing high-throughput in vitro assays to test chemical perturbations of these pathways; (iii) identifying the universe of chemicals with likely human or ecological exposure; (iv) testing as many of these chemicals as possible in the relevant in vitro assays; (v) developing hazard models that take the results of these tests and identify chemicals as being potential toxicants; (vi) generating toxicokinetics data on these chemicals to predict the doses at which these hazard pathways would be activated; and (vii) developing exposure models to identify chemicals for which these hazardous dose levels could be achieved. This overall strategy is described and briefly illustrated with recent examples from the ToxCast programme.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard Judson
- U.S. EPA, National Center for Computational Toxicology, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
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