Toxicity evaluation of pharmaceutical drugs and quantum dots (QDs) using zebrafish embryos – A comprehensive review

Drug discovery and development have been a significant focus of medicinal and pharmaceutical research, continually striving to meet the growing challenges posed by complex diseases and medical conditions. In drug development, quantum dots (QDs) can be utilized in fluorescent assays for drug discovery and as fluorescent labels in drug delivery systems to monitor the metabolism of drugs in the body. As efforts to unravel the mysteries of human health and design innovative therapeutic solutions increase, the roles of model organisms in advancing understanding and accelerating discovery and development are also expanding. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) have emerged as a prominent model organism in the field of drug screening and development due to their unique biological attributes and experimental advantages. Many pharmaceutical products and drugs developed in the pharmaceutical industry fail in clinical trials due to unanticipated toxic side effects. Similarly, despite the interesting characteristics and versatile applications of QDs in drug development, there are a limited number of clinical trials involving QDs, hindered by complex pharmaceutical, industrial, technical, and biological challenges such as toxicity. Therefore, this article aims to highlight the importance of using zebrafish embryos and eleutheroembryos models for the toxicological assessment of pharmaceutical drugs and QDs in drug delivery and development. This review summarizes the developments available in the literature regarding the evaluation of the toxicity of QDs and drugs using zebrafish assays. The use of zebrafish models for safety profiling and pharmacological preclinical screening of pharmaceutical drugs and QDs will provide more insights than cellular assays and offer valuable information for mammalian experiments.