Automated measurement of the spontaneous tail coiling of zebrafish embryos as a sensitive behavior endpoint using a workflow in KNIME.

Neuroactive substances are the largest group of chemicals detected in European surface waters. Mixtures of neuroactive substances occurring at low concentrations can induce adverse neurological effects in humans and organisms in the environment. Therefore, there is a need to develop new screening tools to detect these chemicals.

Assessing Combined Effects for Mixtures of Similar and Dissimilar Acting Neuroactive Substances on Zebrafish Embryo Movement.

Risk assessment of chemicals is usually conducted for individual chemicals whereas mixtures of chemicals occur in the environment. Considering that neuroactive chemicals are a group of contaminants that dominate the environment, it is then imperative to understand the combined effects of mixtures. The commonly used models to predict mixture effects, namely concentration addition (CA) and independent action (IA), are thought to be suitable for mixtures of similarly or dissimilarly acting components, respectively.

Optimization of the spontaneous tail coiling test for fast assessment of neurotoxic effects in the zebrafish embryo using an automated workflow in KNIME®.

Neuroactive chemicals are frequently detected in the environment. At sufficiently high concentrations or within mixtures, they could provoke neurotoxic effects and neurological diseases to organisms and humans. Fast identification of such neuroactive compounds in the environment could help in hazard assessment and risk mitigation.

Extrapolation of imidacloprid toxicity between soils by exposing Folsomia candida in soil pore water.

Soil properties like organic matter (OM) content show great variation, making it hard to predict the fate and effects of a chemical in different soils. We therefore addressed the question: can we remove the complexity of the soil matrix and yet accurately predict soil toxicity from porewater exposures? Folsomia candida was exposed to imidacloprid in natural (LUFA 2.2 [4.