A Belgian researcher has spoken on EARA’s #TransparencyThursday Instagram series, about her research involving the use of zebrafish embryos.
Chloé Bars, a PhD student at EARA member the University of Antwerp’s Comparative Perinatal Development Laboratory, explained why zebrafish embryos are a good model for chemical safety assessment of the anti-epileptic drug, carbamazepine.
See the video now on EARA YouTube.
She explained that zebrafish embryos can be used to test if the byproducts formed after the drug is broken down in the body - drug matabolites - are toxic or not.
Chloe said the study is focusing on compounds called proteratogens, such as carbamazepine.
“In humans, those compounds are not embryo toxic by themselves, but by the toxic metabolites formed by enzymes present in the mother, therefore to test the metabolisation capacity of zebrafish embryos early on, these compounds are perfect,” she said.
As institutions seek to become more open and transparent #TransparencyThursday gives the public a chance to find out why it is necessary to use animals.
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