title: An early developmental vertebrate model for nanomaterial safety: bridging cell-based and mammalian toxicity assessment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  With the rise in production of nanoparticles (NPs) for an ever-increasing number of applications, there is an urgent need to efficiently assess their potential toxicity. We propose a NP hazard assessment protocol that combines mammalian cytotoxicity data with embryonic vertebrate abnormality scoring to determine an overall toxicity index.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed that, after exposure to a range of NPs, Xenopus phenotypic scoring showed a strong correlation with cell based in vitro assays. Magnetite-cored NPs, negative for toxicity in vitro and Xenopus, were further confirmed as nontoxic in mice.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results highlight the potential of Xenopus embryo analysis as a fast screening approach for toxicity assessment of NPs, which could be introduced for the routine testing of nanomaterials.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
authors.forename: Carl A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Webster
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
authors.forename: Desire
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Di Silvio
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
authors.forename: Aarthi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Devarajan
authors.affiliation: IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche 'Mario Negri', Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bigini
authors.affiliation: IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche 'Mario Negri', Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Edoardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Micotti
authors.affiliation: DIVET, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Giudice
authors.affiliation: IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche 'Mario Negri', Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salmona
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
authors.forename: Grant N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Wheeler
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.|Skin Tumour Laboratory, Jacqui Wood Cancer Centre, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sherwood
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.|Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering "G. Natta", NFMLab, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca Baldelli
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Bombelli
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D005290:Ferric Compounds / Q000633:toxicity; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000633:toxicity*; D018675:Toxicity Tests / Q000379:methods*; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000196:embryology
chemical_list: D005290:Ferric Compounds; C000499:ferric oxide
keywords: Xenopus laevis; cytotoxicity; in vitro–in vivo correlations; nanomaterials; nanomedicine; nanotoxicity