Phenylthiourea alters toxicity of mercury compounds in zebrafish larvae.

Abstract

In recent years larval stage zebrafish have been emerging as a standard vertebrate model in a number of fields, ranging from developmental biology to pharmacology and toxicology. The tyrosinase inhibitor 1-phenyl-2-thiourea (PTU) is used very widely with larval zebrafish to generate essentially transparent organisms through inhibition of melanogenesis, which has enabled many elegant studies in areas ranging from neurological development to cancer research. Here we show that PTU can have dramatic synergistic and antagonistic effects on the chemical toxicology of different mercury compounds. Our results indicate that extreme caution should be used when employing PTU in toxicological studies, particularly when studying toxic metal ions.

• Authors: Tracy C MacDonald, Susan Nehzati, Nicole J Sylvain, Ashley K James, Malgorzata Korbas, Sally Caine, Ingrid J Pickering, Graham N George, Patrick H Krone
• Journal: Journal of inorganic biochemistry (J Inorg Biochem) Vol. 151 Pg. 10-7 (Oct 2015) ISSN: 1873-3344 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 26226450 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Coordination Complexes
• Mercury Compounds
• Phenylthiourea

Topics

• Animals
• Coordination Complexes (chemistry)
• Enzyme Activation (drug effects)
• Mercury Compounds (chemistry, toxicity)
• Phenylthiourea (chemistry, pharmacology)
• Quantum Theory
• Toxicological Phenomena (drug effects)
• Zebrafish