Caenorhabditis elegans: an emerging model in biomedical and environmental toxicology.
Journal Article (Review;Journal Article)
The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has emerged as an important animal model in various fields including neurobiology, developmental biology, and genetics. Characteristics of this animal model that have contributed to its success include its genetic manipulability, invariant and fully described developmental program, well-characterized genome, ease of maintenance, short and prolific life cycle, and small body size. These same features have led to an increasing use of C. elegans in toxicology, both for mechanistic studies and high-throughput screening approaches. We describe some of the research that has been carried out in the areas of neurotoxicology, genetic toxicology, and environmental toxicology, as well as high-throughput experiments with C. elegans including genome-wide screening for molecular targets of toxicity and rapid toxicity assessment for new chemicals. We argue for an increased role for C. elegans in complementing other model systems in toxicological research.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Leung, MCK; Williams, PL; Benedetto, A; Au, C; Helmcke, KJ; Aschner, M; Meyer, JN
Published Date
- November 2008
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 106 / 1
Start / End Page
- 5 - 28
PubMed ID
- 18566021
Pubmed Central ID
- PMC2563142
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1096-0929
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 1096-6080
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1093/toxsci/kfn121
Language
- eng