Toxicity study of deflazacort on morphological development in zebrafish embryos

• Published in: Comparative clinical pathology Vol. 22; no. 6; pp. 1205 - 1210
• Main Authors: Kumar, R. B. Suresh, Kar, Biswakanth, Dolai, Narayan, Karmakar, Indrajit, Bala, Asis, Haldar, Pallab Kanti
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Springer London 01.11.2013; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Danio rerio; Freshwater; Hematology; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Oncology; Original Article; Pathology; Embryotoxicity; Zebrafish; Deflazacort; Teratoginicity
• ISSN: 1618-5641; 1618-565X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00580-012-1551-1

Deflazacort (DFZ) is a synthetic oxazoline derivative of prednisolone which comes under the classification of glucocorticoid. In the present study, toxicity of deflazacort on embryo development stage was evaluated using zebrafish embryos, in order to decrease the side effect and causalities. Zebrafish offer practical advantages as powerful in vivo model organisms for toxicity study. They develop rapidly and are optically transparent, making it convenient to observe the movement and fate of individual cells during embryonic development stages. Zebrafish embryos were exposed to DFZ from 1 to 144 h post fertilization to evaluate the developmental toxicity of DFZ. The results showed that DFZ with 2.5-μM concentration displays tail deformation with edema of heart muscles: tail deformation is related to spinal cord deformation. This shows that DFZ may have embryotoxic effect and it remains to explain the species-specific effects which draws conclusion regarding human risk assessments.