Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 1, 2025
Rapid Evaluation of Toxicity of Chemical Compounds Using Zebrafish Embryos
Published on: August 25, 2019
Understanding the toxicity mechanism of gelsemine in zebrafish
Chenglong Ma1, Yanan He2, Huan Wang3
1Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Toxicant Monitoring and Toxicology, College of Animal Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia Minzu University, Tongliao, Inner Mongolia 028000, China; School of Tea and Food Science & Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China; State Key Laboratory of Toxicology and Medical Countermeasures, Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100850, China.
Abstract:
Gelsemium elegans (GE), also known as Duanchangcao, is a plant associated with toxic symptoms related to the abdomen; however, the toxicity caused by GE remains unknown. Gelsemine (GEL) is an alkaloid extracted from GE and is one of the most toxic alkaloids. This study used zebrafish as an animal model and employed high-throughput gene sequencing to identify genes and signaling pathways related to GEL toxicity. Exposure to GEL negatively impacted heart rate, swim bladder development, and activity in zebrafish larvae. Transcriptomics data revealed the enrichment of inflammatory and phagocyte signaling pathways. RT-PCR analysis revealed a decrease in the expression of pancreas-related genes, including the pancreatic coagulation protease (Ctr) family, such as Ctrl, Ctrb 1, and Ctrc, due to GEL exposure. Furthermore, GEL exposure significantly reduced Ctrb1 protein expression while elevating trypsin and serum amylase activities in zebrafish larvae. GEL also resulted in a decrease in pancreas-associated fluorescence area and an increase in neutrophil-related fluorescence area in transgenic zebrafish. This study revealed that GEL toxicity in zebrafish larvae is related to acute pancreatic inflammation.
