Preliminary study on cardiotoxicity of celastrol to zebrafish embryo / 中国药理学通报

ABSTRACT

Aim To study the cardiotoxicity of celastrol to zebrafish embryo.Method 48 h post-fertilization zebrafish embryos were used as model for analysis of heart toxicity and were treated with various concentrations of celastrol.6,12,24 h after treatment morphological and functional changes of embryos hearts were observed.Results Cardiotoxicity was not found in embryos during 24 h treatment with 1 ?mol?L-1 concentration of celastrol.Toxic symptoms of embryos were caused by 2,3,4 ?mol?L-1 concentrations of celastrol with appearance of heart linearization,heart membrane hemorrhage and hemocytes accumulation in cardiac region.Moreover,heart rate decreased significantly with increase of concentration and prolongation of treatment.The EC50(24 h)of decrease of heart rate was about 1.78 ?mol?L-1.Conclusion Celastrol is cardiotoxic to zebrafish embryo.