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A Dorsal view of a control larva of X. laevis; B normal female+assay male’s embryo; C assay female+normal male’s embryo; D assay female+assay male’s embryo. a) Microcephaly; b) microftalmy; c) cyclopia; d) gut malformation; e) tail malformation; f) odema; h) anencephaly
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Microplastics and associated adverse effects have been on the global agenda in recent years. Because of its importance as a model organism for studies on developmental biology, Xenopus laevis has been chosen as the study animal in in vitro teratogenesis studies. FETAX test uses early-stage embryos of X. laevis to measure the potential of substances...
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Perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) is a ubiquitous environmental pollutant associated with increasing health concerns and environmental hazards. Toxicological analyses of PFOS exposure are hampered by large inter-species variations and limited studies on the mechanistic details of PFOS-induced toxicity. We investigated the effects of PFOS exposure on...
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... Although the main sources of MPs in marine environments are inland surface waters, information on the occurrence and the effects of MPs in freshwater ecosystems is still scant. Pekmezekmek et al. [91] recently demonstrated that adult X. laevis, if fed with polyvinyl chloride (1% of body weight, twice each week for 6 weeks) before the fertilization period, gave birth to embryos with evident malformations and decreased viability. In addition, the Hsp70 and Pax6 gene expression levels significantly decreased, although the lung and intestine tissues displayed a normal appearance in the histopathological examination. ...
In vitro systems have been mainly promoted by authorities to sustain research by following the 3Rs principle, but continuously increasing amounts of evidence point out that in vivo experimentation is also of extreme relevance. Xenopus laevis, an anuran amphibian, is a significant model organism in the study of evolutionary developmental biology, toxicology, ethology, neurobiology, endocrinology, immunology and tumor biology; thanks to the recent development of genome editing, it has also acquired a relevant position in the field of genetics. For these reasons, X. laevis appears to be a powerful and alternative model to the zebrafish for environmental and biomedical studies. Its life cycle, as well as the possibility to obtain gametes from adults during the whole year and embryos by in vitro fertilization, allows experimental studies of several biological endpoints, such as gametogenesis, embryogenesis, larval growth, metamorphosis and, of course, the young and adult stages. Moreover, with respect to alternative invertebrate and even vertebrate animal models, the X. laevis genome displays a higher degree of similarity with that of mammals. Here, we have reviewed the main available literature on the use of X. laevis in the biosciences and, inspired by Feymann’s revised view, “Plenty of room for biology at the bottom”, suggest that X. laevis is a very useful model for all possible studies.
Our oceans and seas have been polluted with plastics for nearly 60 years. The increase in plastic consumption all over the world, the possibility of plastics remaining in the environment for hundreds of years without decomposing, the decomposition of plastics into smaller pieces, the detection of organisms at all levels of the marine food chain, and the possibility of human exposure to microplastics through food increase the awareness on this issue day by day. With the introduction of microplastics and nanoplastics, scientists have started to work on this pollution in water, especially since 2010. The common view is that the impact of this type of pollution on the environment will increase and harm living things.
