title: In vivo zebrafish assays for analyzing drug toxicity.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Off-target effects represent one of the major concerns in the development of new pharmaceuticals, requiring large-scale animal toxicity testing. Faster, cheaper and more reliable assays based on zebrafish embryos (ZE) are being developed as major tools for assessing toxicity of chemicals during the drug-discovery process.
  
  
  METHODS
  This paper reviews techniques aimed to the analysis of in vivo sublethal toxic effects of drugs on major physiological functions, including the cardiovascular, nervous, neuromuscular, gastrointestinal and thyroid systems among others. Particular emphasis is placed on high-throughput screening techniques (HTS), including robotics, imaging technologies and image-analysis software.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The analysis of off-target effects of candidate drugs requires systemic analyses, as they often involve the complete organism rather than specific, tissue- or cell-specific targets. The unique physical and physiological characteristics of ZE make this system an essential tool for drug discovery and toxicity assessment. Different HTS methodologies applicable to ZE allow the screening of large numbers of different chemicals for many diverse and relevant toxic endpoints.
authors.affiliation: IDAEA-CSIC, Environmental Chemistry , Jordi Girona 18, 08034 Barcelona , Spain +34 93400 6157 ; +34 93204 5904 ; bpcbmc@cid.csic.es.
authors.forename: Demetrio
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Raldúa
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Piña
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D055808:Drug Discovery; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D015507:Drugs, Investigational / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000187:drug effects*; D057166:High-Throughput Screening Assays; D018675:Toxicity Tests; D015027:Zebrafish
chemical_list: D015507:Drugs, Investigational