Toxicological screening of nanoparticles for biological applications: Drosophila melanogaster as a representative toxicological model

Drosophila melanogaster, once considered as a mere fruit-fly, has become a breakthrough model in scientific research since the beginning of the 20th century. Owing to the significant efforts of pioneer scientists in the genetic field, this organism has been fully characterized with respect to its genome, transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome with further developments that are still being achieved. The in-depth knowledge about its morphogenesis, spermatogenesis, and genomic regulation yielded a rigorous and unparalleled opportunity to use this fly-species as a representative toxicological model. Indeed, during the last decades, it has been used in cell polarization studies, autocrine regulation, meiotic divisions as the generation center of a genomic charge compatible with the transmission of life throughout fertilization, and even in the comparison of genomes between populations. This model has been used in several toxicological examinations as it detains important anatomical and physiological features concerning internal structural correlation with the human organism. It also exhibits a fast species turnover, allowing its use in acute and chronic experiments. Owing to its reduced size, Drosophila has also been proposed to screen the toxicological profile of nanomaterials intended for use in higher eukaryotes, including humans. Over the last decades, a new field called drosophotoxicology has emerged, which is expected to expand in the coming years representing an enormous potential for the study of several drugs and nutraceutical compounds from foreign sources, aiming to achieve higher laboratory reproducibility and better quality of outcomes.