IMPROVED developmental toxicity assay, dtz

We have improved our zebrafish developmental toxicity assay (DTZ) so we can now perform even a more robust and accurate teratogenicity assessment.

Based on the great amount of scientific references and the existence of other similar animal models (ie Xenopus), ZF BioLabs created a developmental toxicity test using Zebrafish embryos as an alternative to the mammalian model. Our efforts were focused first on gaining more knowledge on the biology of the Zebrafish, optimizing the system for obtaining good quality embryos, selecting a standard battery of endpoints, and over all, reducing variability and thus gaining reproducibility of the test.

The definitive endpoints which are used to establish the teratogenicity of a specific compound are based on a very deep knowledge of the embryology of the Zebrafish. They have been compiled in the Atlas of Malformations, which is part of the test protocol. Strict criteria for eggs and embryo selection has enabled us to greatly reduce the variability of the results and gaining reproducibility in the test, validating the results testing a battery of diverse types of compounds.

The DTZ toxicity assay is a valid alternative for testing embryotoxicity of compounds, and can be used in a secondary screening of lead compounds in drug discovery research, as it gives additional information about the tested compounds that can be of help in the selection of leads for further development. Correlation of results with mammalian models is well established.

Download our poster about DTZ presented at Invitox 2006 congress.