Aquatic Toxicity Assessment of Chlorhexidine and Dibutyl Phthalate: A Zebrafish-based Evaluation

The zebrafish high genetic similarity to humans, with roughly 87% genomic homology that enables toxicity results to be broadly relevant to human health, further strengthens its suitability for studies.6,7 Despite chlorhexidine (CHX) being used extensively, little is known about how harmful it is to aquatic life.8 At concentrations IntroductIonThe aquatic ecosystem has always been under constant threat in recent years because of the amount of chemicals and materials that were released into the water without treatment.Aquatic toxicology studies such aspects and highlights the importance of protecting the organisms and the environment.1 To comprehend the toxicological mechanisms of foreign chemicals, biological models are crucial.Due to growing study findings, creatures including Scenedesmus obliquus, Daphnia magna, toads, and zebrafish are being utilized more frequently in aquatic ecotoxicology.Due to its many biological benefits and distinct genetic background, the zebrafish has been chosen as a standard experimental model by both the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the International Organization for Standardization.It is a perfect organism for developmental biology compared to in vitro systems; its embryos, larvae, and adults offer dependable in vivo platforms that more accurately depict absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion.2 Because of these advantages, zebrafish have been extensively employed in aquatic ecotoxicology studies, 3,4 and laboratory observations have identified human-like illnesses, such as cancer, establishing them as a supplementary system for cancer research.5 Their usefulness is further increased by their tiny size, low cost, quick reproduction, high fecundity, ex utero development, and transparent embryos.