PUBLICATION

Simple, rapid zebrafish larva bioassay for assessing the potential of chemical pollutants and drugs to disrupt thyroid gland function

Authors
Raldúa, D., and Babin, P.J.
ID
ZDB-PUB-090928-1
Date
2009
Source
Environmental science & technology   43(17): 6844-6850 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Babin, Patrick J., Raldúa, Demetrio
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Biological Assay
  • Endocrine Disruptors/toxicity*
  • Fluorescent Antibody Technique
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Larva/drug effects
  • Larva/metabolism
  • Thyroid Function Tests
  • Thyroid Gland/drug effects*
  • Thyroid Gland/metabolism
  • Thyroid Gland/pathology
  • Thyroxine/metabolism
  • Time Factors
  • Toxicity Tests/methods
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical/toxicity*
  • Zebrafish/growth & development*
  • Zebrafish/metabolism
PubMed
19764258 Full text @ Env. Sci. Tech.
Abstract
Thyroid function may be altered by a very large number of chemicals routinely found in the environment Research evaluating potential thyroid disruption is ongoing, but there are thousands of synthetic and naturally occurring drugs and chemicals to be considered. European and United States policies call for the development of simple methodologies for screening endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Zebrafish are widely used as a model organism for assessing drug effects because of their small size, high fecundity, rapid organogenesis, morphological and physiological similarities to mammals, and easewithwhich large-scale phenotypic screening is performed. A zebrafish-based short-duration screening method was developed to detect the potential effect of chemicals and drugs on thyroid function. This method used a T4 immunofluorescence quantitative disruption test (TIQDT) to measure thyroid function. The 3 day exposure window protocol, from day 2 to day 5 postfertilization (dpf), avoided any potential side effects on thyroid gland morphogenesis. Methimazole, propylthiouracil, and potassium perchlorate, three well-known goitrogens, totally abolished T4 immunoreactivity in thyroid follicles in a dose-specific manner. Amiodarone, a human pharmaceutical with a reported cytotoxic effect on thyroid follicular cells, also decreased T4 levels. Moreover, exposure to 50 nM 3,3',5-triiodothyronine induced a significant decrease in T4 immunoreactivity as did DDT, 2,4-D, and 4-nonylphenol. In conclusion, these data indicated that TIQDT may be useful for obtaining initial information about the ability of environmental pollutants and drugs to impair thyroid gland function as well as assessing the combined effects of endocrine disruptors.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping