The aim of the series of papers is to discuss the application of Xenopus laevis, as model animal in biology, in ecotoxicology. X. laevis as model animal is wildly used in biological study and has pro- vided a lot of r...The aim of the series of papers is to discuss the application of Xenopus laevis, as model animal in biology, in ecotoxicology. X. laevis as model animal is wildly used in biological study and has pro- vided a lot of relating data because of many advan- tages, such as living in water and being easily main- tained, laying eggs in the whole year, and externally fertilizing and developing. Embryos and larvae of X. laevis like other amphibians are directly exposed in the aquatic environment and sensitive to pollutants. In addition, sex differentiation and sex organ devel- opment of X. laevis are sensitive to sex hormones and endocrine disruptors with sex hormone activities, which enable X. laevis to be used in studies on sex hormone disruption and reproductive toxicity of en- docrine disruptors. Metamorphic development of X. laevis is very sensitive to thyroid hormones and thy- roid disruptors, which enables X. laevis to be used for evaluating thyroid disruptors. Also, X. laevis ecotoxi- cology can be linked with amphibian population de- clines and malformed frog occurrence, being one of the hotspots in ecology. Thus, more and more labo- ratories have introduced X. laevis to ecotoxicological study. The quality of laboratory animals correlates with scientificity and reliability of results from animal experiments. It is especially important for toxicology. Quality control of X. laevis involving several factors such as water and food is discussed in this paper.展开更多
基金This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China （Grant Nos.20377044 and 20437020）the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China （Grant No.2003AA646010)the National Basic Research Program of China （Grant No.2003CB415005）.
文摘The aim of the series of papers is to discuss the application of Xenopus laevis, as model animal in biology, in ecotoxicology. X. laevis as model animal is wildly used in biological study and has pro- vided a lot of relating data because of many advan- tages, such as living in water and being easily main- tained, laying eggs in the whole year, and externally fertilizing and developing. Embryos and larvae of X. laevis like other amphibians are directly exposed in the aquatic environment and sensitive to pollutants. In addition, sex differentiation and sex organ devel- opment of X. laevis are sensitive to sex hormones and endocrine disruptors with sex hormone activities, which enable X. laevis to be used in studies on sex hormone disruption and reproductive toxicity of en- docrine disruptors. Metamorphic development of X. laevis is very sensitive to thyroid hormones and thy- roid disruptors, which enables X. laevis to be used for evaluating thyroid disruptors. Also, X. laevis ecotoxi- cology can be linked with amphibian population de- clines and malformed frog occurrence, being one of the hotspots in ecology. Thus, more and more labo- ratories have introduced X. laevis to ecotoxicological study. The quality of laboratory animals correlates with scientificity and reliability of results from animal experiments. It is especially important for toxicology. Quality control of X. laevis involving several factors such as water and food is discussed in this paper.
