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Cardiotoxicity is one of the main causes of failure in new drug development or drug withdrawal from the market. However, current methods for evaluation of drug cardiotoxicity suffer the shortcomings such as low clinical relevance, low reproducibility and lack of high throughput screening capacity. Therefore, there is an urgent need for establishing more accurate and reliable methods for cardiotoxicity evaluation of drugs. As a new generation of drug cardiotoxicity evaluation, cardiac organs in culture retain the biological characteristics and functions of heart cells in the body, and can realistically and accurately respond to the effects of drugs. This article reviews recent progress of in vitro culture of cardiac organs and 3D-cell models, with focuses on application and development potential of cardiac organs for evaluation of cardiotoxicity of traditional Chinese medicine. The advantage and future prospective of such cell- and organ-based models for unique challenges in evaluation of cardiotoxicity of traditional Chinese medicine have been discussed.
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Objective To evaluate the toxic effects of different concentrations of Coptidis Rhizoma extract on Caenorhabditis elegans. Methods Coptidis Rhizoma was extracted by water, and then selected some indicators to evaluate the toxic effects of Coptidis Rhizoma by using C. elegans as model organism. The effects of different concentrations of water extracts of Coptidis Rhizoma on lethality, maximum lifespan and median lethal time, individual development, spawning number and locomotion behavior were measured to evaluate the toxic effects on C. elegans. Results Compared with the control group, the lethality of C. elegans was significantly increased by water extracts of Coptidis Rhizoma at 0.5, 1.0, and 2.5 mg/mL (P < 0.01), and maximum lifespan and median lethal time were significantly decreased (P < 0.01). In the aspect of individual development, Coptidis Rhizoma extract at 1.0 and 2.5 mg/mL significantly inhibited the growth of C. elegans (P < 0.01). Three concentration extracts could significantly reduce the number of spawning in a certain dose-dependent manner in the aspect of reproductive behavior (P < 0.001), and the head swing frequency of C. elegans (P < 0.01) in the aspect of locomotion behavior, respectively. There was no significant difference in body bending frequency between the 0.5 and 1.0 mg/mL exposed group, of which the lowest bending frequency was 2.5 mg/mL exposed group (P < 0.01). There was no significant difference in the frequency of forward swing, backward swing and Omega/U swing of three exposed groups. Conclusion The water extracts of Coptidis Rhizoma had obvious toxic effects on C. elegans, which provided the basis for the biological evaluation of the toxicity of different processed products of Coptidis Rhizoma by using C. elegans as a model organism, and provided new ideas and methods for the biological assessment of toxicity of Chinese medicinal materials.
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Since γH2 AX was firstly found in 1998 , it has been one of the most important scientific topics and research tools in the related scientific fields. At present, a series of advanced testing methods and analytical technologies have been developed, which exhibited a quite attractive application prospect in the area of life science and medical science. This paper reviewed the latest progress about γH2AX in terms of molecular mechanism of phosphorylation/dephosphorylation, development of testing technologies, and the related applications.
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Objective To evaluate the protective effects of Rosemary's chloroform extract on cerebral ischemia in mice and acute toxicity.Methods The protective of rosemary's chloroform extract on cerebral ischemia was observed and compared by the mice models of cerebral anoxia and ischemia,thrombus formation in vivo,and chloroform induced arrhythmias.Rosemary's Chloroform Extract was given orally to mice to evaluate acute toxicity.Results Rosemary's chloroform extract had different degrees of inhibition of collagen-the adrenaline induced thrombus formation,and prolonged acute ischemic mice brains off mouth breathing time and increase the number of mouth breathing (P ＜0.05 or P ＜0.01);Chloroform extract significantly reduced the incidence of chloroform induced ventricular arrhythmias.Acute toxicity results suggested that a female rat died in the next day of chloroform extract group,no additional toxicity was observed.Conclusion Rosemary's chloroforrm extract has significant protective effect on cerebral ischemia and hypoxia in mice.
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Static, short-term, acute toxicity tests were performed over a period of 96 hrs using different concentrations of influent and effluent of textile industry waste water with the objective of evaluating their acute toxicity on fresh water fish, Cyprinus carpio (common carp). The LC50 24, 48, 72 and 96 hr of influent and effluent were 25.9, 21.10, 15.66, 11.11% (v/v) and 63.18, 54.89, 48.62, 36.04% (v/v), respectively. The acute toxic unit TUa values for 24, 48, 72, 96 hr for influent and effluent are 3.85, 4.73, 6.38, 8.99 and 1.58, 1.82, 2.05, 2.77, respectively. Correspondingly, the TF was found to be 1, 1.22, 1.65 and 2.33 for influent, and for effluent 1, 1.15, 1.29 and 1.75. Total efficiency of the treatment was 69.16% and the safe concentration of effluent is set to be 3.60%. These data are highly useful in establishing limits of acceptability by the aquatic animals. The need to introduce toxicity evaluation assay for confirming the quality of effluent from the point view of effective environmental safe limits and to ensure integrity of aquatic environment, is stressed.
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O femproporex é utilizado no mundo todo como potente anorexígeno. Este estudo visa esclarecer se o uso diário de femproporex provoca toxicidade comportamental e/ou reprodutiva em camundongos machos adultos. Para tanto, foram utilizados 40 camundongos, divididos em quatro grupos experimentais, cada um contendo dez animais. Um dos grupos recebeu, via gavage, apenas água, e os outros foram tratados diariamente com femproporex, nas doses de 7,5, 15 e 30 mg kg-1, por um período de 40 dias. Como resultados, verificou-se que o femproporex não alterou a evolução normal da massa dos animais analisados, e concluiu-se que a utilização da droga não promoveu toxicidade comportamental, verificada nos testes de natação forçada e de campo aberto; e reprodutiva, quando verificados genotoxicidade, síntese de testosterona, morfologia de espermatozóides e histologia testicular. Assim sendo, concluiu-se que o femproporex, na concentração e delineamentos experimentais propostos por este trabalho, não apresentou potencial toxicológico
Fenproporex is used worldwide as a powerful anorectic drug. This study was designed to evaluate whether daily intake of fenproporex would lead to behavioral and/or reproductive toxicity in adult male mice. Fourty male mice were used, divided into 4 groups of 10 animals each. The control group received only water by gavage, whereas the experimental groups were treated daily with fenproporex in the doses of 7.5, 15 and 30 mg kg-1, for a period of 40 days. The results demonstrated that fenproporex did not alter the normal evolution of the animals' body mass; it also showed that the use of the drug did not promote behavioral toxicity (open- and forced-swimming tests) or reproductive toxicity (genotoxicity, changes in the morphology of spermatozoa and testicular histology). Thus, the present results indicate that fenproporex, in the evaluated dose and experimental conditions, does not present behavioral and reproductive toxic potential in mice.
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Animals , Mice , Amphetamine-Related Disorders , Drug Evaluation , Fetal Development , Central Nervous System Stimulants/adverse effects , ReproductionABSTRACT
With the aggravation of enviromental pollution, a quickly, sensitive, inexpensive monitoring means should be developed to protect water resources. Luminescent bacteria as biosensor have the advantages mentioned above. During past two decades, luminescent bacteria toxicity test was used widely in comprehensive toxicity evaluation, screening, monitoring and specific pollutants detection in water, the recent progress in this field was reviewed in this paper.