Toxicology testing in drug discovery and development

Safety assessment of crude aqueous methanol extract of Annona senegalensis stem bark: acute and sub-chronic toxicity studies

Annona senegalensis Pers., (wild custard apple), is a shrub used traditionally to treat respiratory and skin diseases. Previous studies have demonstrated its anti-malaria, anti-snake envenomation and anti-cancer activities. However, its toxicological profile remains limited, particularly in male and female animals. This study aims to evaluate the safety of crude aqueous methanol extract of Annona senegalensis stem bark (AMEAS) through acute and sub-chronic toxicity studies. The stem bark of A. senegalensis was collected, air-dried, pulverized, and extracted using 70% methanol. Phytochemical screening, elemental analysis, and acute toxicity evaluation were carried out on AMEAS. Sub-chronic toxicity study was conducted on Wistar rats of both sexes at different doses administered orally for 28 days. Elemental analysis revealed the presence of heavy metals and essential mineral elements with the highest contents being calcium (59.88%) and potassium (25.39%). Acute toxicity testing showed no mortality up to 5000 mg/kg, suggesting an LD50 greater than 5000 mg/kg. In the sub-chronic toxicity study, no mortality or significant harmful effects were observed. The blood glucose decreased from 13.68 mMol/L at 250 mg/kg to 10.71 mMol/L at 1000 mg/kg, much lower than the distilled water group (17.06 mMol/L). In conclusion, the extract appeared to be well-tolerated, with no obvious adverse effects. AMEAS is rich in Calcium (Ca) and potassium (K). It has been shown to have LD50 greater than 5000 mg/kg and is assumed to be safe. On repeated use, AMEAS may cause hypoglycemia and weight loss which may be useful in managing diabetes and obesity respectively.

Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy at the Interface between Drug Discovery and Personalized Medicine

Personalized medicine and drug discovery are different, yet overlapping, fields, and information from each field is exchanged to improve the other. The current methods used for devising personalized therapeutic plans and developing drug discovery applications are costly, time-consuming, and complex; thus, their applicability is limited in both fields. However, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) offers potential solutions to current challenges. This Mini-Review explores the utility of SERS in drug discovery and personalized medicine. The Mini-Review starts with a brief overview of these fields, including the main challenges and current methods, and then explores examples where SERS has been used to overcome some of the main challenges in both fields. It ends with brief conclusions, perspectives, and current challenges limiting the practical application of SERS.

Sedative Effects of Daidzin, Possibly Through the GABAA Receptor Interaction Pathway: In Vivo Approach with Molecular Dynamic Simulations

The soy isoflavone daidzin (DZN) has been considered a hopeful bioactive compound having diverse biological activities, including anxiolytic, memory-enhancing, and antiepileptic effects, in experimental animals. However, its sedative and hypnotic effects are yet to be discovered. This study aimed to evaluate its sedative/hypnotic effect on Swiss mice. Additionally, in silico studies were also performed to see the possible molecular mechanisms behind the tested neurological effect. For this, male Swiss albino mice were treated with DZN (5, 10, or 20 mg/kg) intraperitoneally (i.p.) with or without the standard GABAergic medication diazepam (DZP) and/or flumazenil (FLU) and checked for the onset and duration of sleeping time using thiopental sodium-induced as well as DZP-induced sleeping tests. A molecular docking study was also performed to check its interaction capacity with the α1 and β2 subunits of the GABAA receptor. Findings suggest that DZN dose-dependently and significantly reduced the latency while increasing the duration of sleep in animals. In combination therapy, DZN shows synergistic effects with the DZP-2 and DZP-2 + FLU-0.01 groups, resulting in significantly (p < 0.05) reduced latency and increased sleep duration. Further, molecular docking studies demonstrate that DZN has a strong binding affinity of - 7.2 kcal/mol, which is closer to the standard ligand DZP (- 8.3 kcal/mol) against the GABAA (6X3X) receptor. Molecular dynamic simulations indicated stability and similar binding locations for DZP and DZN with 6X3X. In conclusion, DZN shows sedative effects on Swiss mice, possibly through the GABAA receptor interaction pathway.

Anticancer potential of phytochemicals derived from mangrove plants: Comprehensive mechanistic insights

Cancer is a collection of illnesses characterized by aberrant cellular proliferation that can infiltrate or metastasize to distant anatomical sites, posing a notable threat to human well-being due to its substantial morbidity and death rates worldwide. The potential of plant-derived natural compounds as anticancer medicines has been assessed owing to their favorable attributes of few side effects and significant antitumor activity. Mangrove plants and their derived compounds have been scientifically shown to exhibit many significant beneficial biological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, antioxidant, neuroprotective, cardioprotective, and hepatoprotective properties. This study summarized mangrove plants and their derived compounds as potential anticancer agents, with an emphasis on the underlying molecular mechanisms. To explore this, we gathered data on the preclinical (in vivo and in vitro) anticancer effects of mangrove plants and their derived compounds from reputable literature spanning 2000 to 2023. We conducted thorough searches in various academic databases, including PubMed, ScienceDirect, Wiley Online, SpringerLink, Google Scholar, Scopus, and the Web of Science. The results demonstrated that mangrove plants and their derived compounds have promising anticancer properties in preclinical pharmacological test systems through various molecular mechanisms, including induction of oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction, cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, autophagy, antiproliferative, antimetastatic, and other miscellaneous actions. Upon thorough observation of the pertinent information, it is suggested that mangrove plants and their derived chemicals may serve as a potential lead in the development of novel drugs for cancer therapy.

Anticonvulsant effect of (±) citronellal possibly through the GABAergic and voltage-gated sodium channel receptor interaction pathways: In vivo and in silico studies

This study aimed to investigate the anticonvulsant effects of citronellal (CIT) and possible underlying mechanisms through an isoniazid (INH)-induced seizure (convulsion) via in vivo and in silico studies. For this, convulsions were induced by the oral administration of INH (300 mg/kg) to the mice. The animals were treated orally with different doses of CIT (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg). Vehicle served as a negative control (NC), while diazepam (DZP) (2 mg/kg) and carbamazepine (CAR) (80 mg/kg) were provided (p.o.) as positive controls (PC). A combination therapy of CIT (middle dose) with DZP and CAR was also given to two separate groups of animals to estimate the synergistic or antagonistic effects. Molecular docking and visualization of ligand-receptor interactions are also estimated through different computational tools. The results of the in vivo study showed that CIT dose-dependently significantly (p < 0.05) exhibited a higher onset of seizures while reducing the frequency and duration of seizures in mice compared to the NC group. Besides these, in combination therapy, CIT significantly antagonized the activity of CAR and DZP, leading to a reduction in the onset of seizures and an increase in their frequency and duration compared to treatment with CAR and DZP alone. Additionally, molecular docking revealed that the CIT exhibited a moderate binding affinity (-5.8 kcal/mol) towards the GABAA receptor and a relative binding affinity (-5.3 kcal/mol) towards the voltage-gated sodium channel receptor by forming several bonds. In conclusion, CIT showed moderate anticonvulsant activity in INH-induced convulsion animals, possibly by enhancing GABAA receptor activity and inhibiting the voltage-gated sodium channel receptor.

Mechanobiological stimulation in organ-on-a-chip systems reduces hepatic drug metabolic capacity in favor of regenerative specialization

Hepatic physiology depends on the liver's complex structural composition which among others, provides high oxygen supply rates, locally differential oxygen tension, endothelial paracrine signaling, as well as residual hemodynamic shear stress to resident hepatocytes. While functional improvements were shown by implementing these factors into hepatic culture systems, direct cause-effect relationships are often not well characterized-obfuscating their individual contribution in more complex microphysiological systems. By comparing increasingly complex hepatic in vitro culture systems that gradually implement these parameters, we investigate the influence of the cellular microenvironment to overall hepatic functionality in pharmacological applications. Here, hepatocytes were modulated in terms of oxygen tension and supplementation, endothelial coculture, and exposure to fluid shear stress delineated from oxygen influx. Results from transcriptomic and metabolomic evaluation indicate that particularly oxygen supply rates are critical to enhance cellular functionality-with cellular drug metabolism remaining comparable to physiological conditions after prolonged static culture. Endothelial signaling was found to be a major contributor to differential phenotype formation known as metabolic zonation, indicated by WNT pathway activity. Lastly, oxygen-delineated shear stress was identified to direct cellular fate towards increased hepatic plasticity and regenerative phenotypes at the cost of drug metabolic functionality - in line with regenerative effects observed in vivo. With these results, we provide a systematic evaluation of critical parameters and their impact in hepatic systems. Given their adherence to physiological effects in vivo, this highlights the importance of their implementation in biomimetic devices, such as organ-on-a-chip systems. Considering recent advances in basic liver biology, direct translation of physiological structures into in vitro models is a promising strategy to expand the capabilities of pharmacological models.

Current aspects of organoid technology for biomaterial toxicity analysis

Organoids provide us an opportunity to understand how diseases affect cellular physiology, human tissues or organs. They are indespensible tools for biomaterial toxicity analysis, drug discovery and regenerative medicine.

Toxicity Analysis of Some Frequently Used Food Processing Chemicals Using Allium cepa Biomonitoring System

Frequent use of various food processing chemical agents sometimes causes damage to our bodies by inducing cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, and mutagenesis. In Bangladesh, among various chemical agents, formalin, saccharin, and urea are vastly used for processing foodstuffs by industry and local people. This study is focused to assess the toxic effects of formalin, saccharin, and urea on the popularly used eukaryotic test model, Allium cepa L. The assay was carried out by exposing different concentrations of test samples to A. cepa at 24, 48, and 72 h, where distilled water and CuSO₄·5H₂O (0.6 µg/mL) were utilized as the vehicle and positive control, respectively. The root length of the onions was measured in mm, and the results propose that all the chemical agents demonstrated toxicity in onions in a concentration- and exposure-time-dependent manner. The highest root length was examined at the lower concentrations, and with the increase in the concentration of the test sample and exposure time, the RG (root growth) was inhibited due to the deposition of chemicals and hampering of cell division in the root meristematic region of A. cepa. All the chemical agents also revealed a concentration- and time-dependent adaptive effect up to 72 h inspection of 24 h and a depletion of % root growth at 72 h inspection of 48 h. Our study suggests that sufficient precautions should be confirmed during its industrial and traditional usage as a toxicological response to the chemical agents observed in the A. cepa assay.

Emerging issues in probiotic safety: 2023 perspectives

Probiotics are used for both generally healthy consumers and in clinical settings. However, theoretical and proven adverse events from probiotic consumption exist. New probiotic strains and products, as well as expanding use of probiotics into vulnerable populations, warrants concise, and actionable recommendations on how to work toward their safe and effective use. The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics convened a meeting to discuss and produce evidence-based recommendations on potential acute and long-term risks, risks to vulnerable populations, the importance for probiotic product quality to match the needs of vulnerable populations, and the need for adverse event reporting related to probiotic use. The importance of whole genome sequencing, which enables determination of virulence, toxin, and antibiotic resistance genes, as well as clear assignment of species and strain identity, is emphasized. We present recommendations to guide the scientific and medical community on judging probiotic safety.

Cardiovascular alterations in rats with Parkinsonism induced by 6-OHDA and treated with Domperidone

After Alzheimer, Parkinson disease (PD) is the most frequently occurring progressive, degenerative neurological disease. It affects both sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems in a variable fashion. Cardiovascular symptoms are present in almost all stages of PD and narrower heart rate variability is the earliest sign. Administration of Levodopa to PD patients has proven to provide some degree of neurological protection. This drug, however, causes side effects including nausea and vomiting, lessened by the administration of domperidone. Autopsies in PD patients led some researchers to suggest the involvement of the ventricular arrhythmia induced by domperidone. The aim of the present study was to determine the impact of the adjusted human maximal dose of domperidone, on cardiological features of Wistar rats. domperidone was administered to both 6-hydroxydopamine Parkinsonism models and regular Wistar rats. Quantitative analysis of ranges of heart beat variation showed significant abnormal distribution in both groups receiving domperidone as compared with respective sham counterparts. However, qualitative analysis of Poincaré plots showed that 6-hydroxydopamine Parkinsonism models receiving domperidone had the narrowest full range of heart beat and the worst distribution heart beat ranges as compared with all study groups corroborating with previous suggestion that domperidone administration to PD patients is likely to play a role in sudden unexpected death in this group of patients.

Hydrogel Based 3-Dimensional (3D) System for Toxicity and High-Throughput (HTP) Analysis for Cultured Murine Ovarian Follicles

Various toxicants, drugs and their metabolites carry potential ovarian toxicity. Ovarian follicles, the functional unit of the ovary, are susceptible to this type of damage at all stages of their development. However, despite of the large scale of potential negative impacts, assays that study ovarian toxicity are limited. Exposure of cultured ovarian follicles to toxicants of interest served as an important tool for evaluation of toxic effects for decades. Mouse follicles cultured on the bottom of a culture dish continue to serve an important approach for mechanistic studies. In this paper, we demonstrated the usefulness of a hydrogel based 3-dimensional (3D) mouse ovarian follicle culture as a tool to study ovarian toxicity in a different setup. The 3D in vitro culture, based on fibrin alginate interpenetrating network (FA-IPN), preserves the architecture of the ovarian follicle and physiological structure-function relationship. We applied the novel 3D high-throughput (HTP) in vitro ovarian follicle culture system to study the ovotoxic effects of an anti-cancer drug, Doxorobucin (DXR). The fibrin component in the system is degraded by plasmin and appears as a clear circle around the encapsulated follicle. The degradation area of the follicle is strongly correlated with follicle survival and growth. To analyze fibrin degradation in a high throughput manner, we created a custom MATLAB® code that converts brightfield micrographs of follicles encapsulated in FA-IPN to binary images, followed by image analysis. We did not observe any significant difference between manually processed images to the automated MATLAB® method, thereby confirming that the automated program is suitable to measure fibrin degradation to evaluate follicle health. The cultured follicles were treated with DXR at concentrations ranging from 0.005 nM to 200 nM, corresponding to the therapeutic plasma levels of DXR in patients. Follicles treated with DXR demonstrated decreased survival rate in greater DXR concentrations. We observed partial follicle survival of 35% ± 3% (n = 80) in 0.01nM treatment and 48% ± 2% (n = 92) in 0.005nM, which we identified as the IC50 for secondary follicles. In summary, we established a 3D in vitro ovarian follicle culture system that could be used in an HTP approach to measure toxic effects on ovarian follicles.

Behavioral studies on anxiety and depression in a drug discovery environment: keys to a successful future

The review describes a personal journey through 25 years of animal research with a focus on the contribution of rodent models for anxiety and depression to the development of new medicines in a drug discovery environment. Several classic acute models for mood disorders are briefly described as well as chronic stress and disease-induction models. The paper highlights a variety of factors that influence the quality and consistency of behavioral data in a laboratory setting. The importance of meta-analysis techniques for study validation (tolerance interval) and assay sensitivity (Monte Carlo modeling) are demonstrated by examples that use historic data. It is essential for successful discovery of new potential drugs to maintain a high level of control in animal research and to bridge knowledge across in silico modeling, and in vitro and in vivo assays. Today, drug discovery is a highly dynamic environment in search of new types of treatments and new animal models which should be guided by enhanced two-way translation between bench and bed. Although productivity has been disappointing in the search of new and better medicines in psychiatry over the past decades, there has been and will always be an important role for in vivo models in-between preclinical discovery and clinical development. The right balance between good science and proper judgment versus a decent level of innovation, assay development and two-way translation will open the doors to a very bright future.

The HCV Revolution Did Not Happen Overnight

The progress in HCV therapy in the last three years is similar to the progress that took HIV therapy ∼14 years. We are at the brink of approval for an all-oral drug combination that is dosed once daily as a single pill, has >95% efficacy, and is well tolerated. This article summarizes the path to this success and the challenges still ahead.