Zebrafish Digestive System Toxicity Assays

Although in vitro studies have laid many foundations for our biochemical understanding of digestive organ physiology, they have not replicated the complex interplay of neural, chemical, hormonal, and environmental cues that regulate digestive organ physiology in vivo. Historically, living cells have often been cultured on artificial surfaces, but this lacked input from neighboring cells and tissues (i.e., the cellular microenvironment). These limitations can be overcome by using zebrafish as a complete animal system.

The study of digestive organs in zebrafish began with early large-scale genetic screening, and several researchers have clearly demonstrated the utility of the zebrafish system in studying the development and physiology of the digestive system through genetic and chemical screening. Studies have shown that many features of fatty liver disease (which in humans are often caused by metabolic syndrome or alcoholism) are similar in zebrafish, and the pathology of zebrafish with digestive disorders often reflects human disease, so zebrafish have become an outstanding system for the study of hepatobiliary, gastrointestinal and pancreatic diseases.

Our Zebrafish Digestive System Toxicity Assays

Zebrafish Enterotoxicity Assays

Zebrafish Digestive System Toxicity Assays

Creative Biogene provides a high-throughput method for predicting mammalian gastrointestinal safety issues using larval zebrafish. Our improved zebrafish gut motility imaging and gut transit time measurement methods enable higher sensitivity and throughput for toxicology. For gut function, our zebrafish assays have the potential to predict adverse drug effects and support their possible role in the early safety assessment of new compounds.

Zebrafish Pancreas Toxicity Assays

Zebrafish Digestive System Toxicity Assays

Creative Biogene could achieve transgenic zebrafish expressing fluorescent proteins in beta cells, allowing easy visualization of the endocrine and exocrine pancreas during organogenesis. We use these models to test the effects of toxic exposure on pancreatic structure, growth, and expression of related genes, detect sensitive target tissues in live vertebrate embryos in real time, and determine the relationship between toxic exposure and pancreatic defects.

Our Advantages

Allows screening of a large number of different compounds against many different and related toxicity endpoints
Ability to characterize GI motor patterns in a complete physiological context
Tracking the movement of macrophages within the smooth muscle layer of the gastrointestinal tract in vivo
Allows non-invasive observation of toxicity and possible recovery

References

Wang WD, et al. Aryl hydrocarbon receptor 2 mediates the toxicity of Paclobutrazol on the digestive system of zebrafish embryos. Aquat Toxicol. 2015, 159:13-22.
Cassar S, et al. Use of Zebrafish in Drug Discovery Toxicology. Chem Res Toxicol. 2020, 33(1):95-118.
Kinkel MD, Prince VE. On the diabetic menu: zebrafish as a model for pancreas development and function. Bioessays. 2009, 31(2):139-152.
Ganz J. Gut feelings: Studying enteric nervous system development, function, and disease in the zebrafish model system. Dev Dyn. 2018, 247(2):268-278.

For research use only. Not intended for any clinical use.