Zebrafish Embryo As An Alternative For Laboratory Animals In Toxicological Assays In Sri Lanka: A Swot Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities And Threats)

Toxicological Assays are necessary to understand the interaction of chemical substances with biological systems to prevent its harmful exposure levels. In order to evaluate the toxic limits and its impacts on organ systems, testing on live animals has been widely practiced. Based on the 3R concept (refinement, reduction and replacement), fish embryo toxicity testing (FET) is used as an alternative method in many countries. Since it is still a novel technique in Sri Lanka which is only available in Uva Wellassa University at present, a SWOT (strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis was carried out to determine its suitability as an alternative for laboratory animals in toxicity testing. Increase sample number due to high fecundity, transparency of developmental stages, rapid development, smaller size, penetrability to chemicals, vast database and availability of variety of strains are major strengths found in using zebrafish embryo as an alternative model for toxicity. Compared to other mammalian models, zebrafish are taxonomically distant and physiologically different to human. Need of extra care in water quality is also a weakness using zebrafish embryos. Fewer ethical restrictions against fish embryos encourage more research and ability to study gene expression and teratogenicity are some opportunities of using zebrafish embryos. Interference of chemicals due to the presence of chorion, appearance of recessive genes due to inbreeding and difficulty of keeping sterile conditions are considered as threats in this method. Considering the SWOT analysis, zebrafish embryo toxicity test can be applied as an economical and reliable method to replace the use of laboratory animals in toxicological assays in Sri Lanka.