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Abstract

Biology

Assessment of Chemical Toxicity in Adult Drosophila Melanogaster

Published: March 24th, 2023

DOI:

10.3791/65029

1Department of Biology, Indiana University, 2Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center, Department of Biology, Indiana University, 3School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, 4O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, 5Section of Developmental Genomics, Laboratory of Biochemistry and Genetics, National Institute of Diabetes and Kidney and Digestive Diseases, National Institutes of Health

* These authors contributed equally

Abstract

Human industries generate hundreds of thousands of chemicals, many of which have not been adequately studied for environmental safety or effects on human health. This deficit of chemical safety information is exacerbated by current testing methods in mammals that are expensive, labor-intensive, and time-consuming. Recently, scientists and regulators have been working to develop new approach methodologies (NAMs) for chemical safety testing that are cheaper, more rapid, and reduce animal suffering. One of the key NAMs to emerge is the use of invertebrate organisms as replacements for mammalian models to elucidate conserved chemical modes of action across distantly related species, including humans. To advance these efforts, here, we describe a method that uses the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to assess chemical safety. The protocol describes a simple, rapid, and inexpensive procedure to measure the viability and feeding behavior of exposed adult flies. In addition, the protocol can be easily adapted to generate samples for genomic and metabolomic approaches. Overall, the protocol represents an important step forward in establishing Drosophila as a standard model for use in precision toxicology.

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Keywords Drosophila Melanogaster

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