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- Chelcea, Ioana C., 1994-
(författare)
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Computational methods for assessing chemical risk : focusing on toxicokinetic modelling in zebrafish (danio rerio)
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- New chemicals are constantly produced and large data gaps exist on hazards of currently used industrial chemicals, stressing the need for rapid, ethically sound and cost-efficient hazard assessment methods. Traditional methods for effect assessment based on animal testing, do not meet these requirements and thus the toxicology field has been moving towards the development of new approach methodologies which include in vitro approaches but also computational methods. The current work has mainly focused on computational tools but also employed in vitro and in vivo methodologies for the development and validation of the in silico approaches.We firstly explored chemical variation of emerging chemicals as a basis for selecting sub-groups of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and bisphenols for Papers I and II. These compounds can be used for future testing and as case study compounds for in silico tools development. The PFASs selection showed compounds with large differences in structure and highlighted the lack of knowledge for large parts of the PFASs chemical domain. This likely is the main driver of the low predictive accuracy of some current fate models and the need for expanding their applicability domains. In Paper II we investigated the toxicokinetics of selected bisphenols in a commonly studied model organism, the zebrafish (Danio rerio), and developed a physiologically-based toxicokinetic model. Novel data for fish biotransformation was derived and showed lower rates than those measured in humans, providing valuable insight for both model parameterization and for chemical safety assessment using fish. The model also demonstrated the ability to predict and rank hazard of these bisphenols in terms of organ-specific bioaccumulation making it a useful tool for chemical screening and prioritization efforts. The results indicate that bisphenols AP, C and Z as well as tetrabromo bisphenol A may have larger potential for bioaccumulation than the widely used bisphenol A (BPA), indicating that these compounds do not constitute safer industrial substitutions. Lastly, we present in Paper III the development of a toxicokinetic model for the zebrafish embryo life-stage. Since the zebrafish embryo test is widely applied in toxicology research, the developed model provides a tool to better understand how varying testing conditions may affect dose at target thus providing a means to compare internal effect concentrations. Additionally, we applied the model in combination with data on estrogenic activity in order to rank the relative hazard of investigated bisphenols, which showed that bisphenols AF, C, B and Z may be more hazardous than BPA.Overall the developed computational tools showed good predictive performance and improvements in parameterization, thus providing tools for understanding dose at target and toxicokinetic variation of emerging substances. Furthermore, the thesis presents novel data and findings for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and bisphenols, which are environmental pollutants of emerging concern of relevance for future hazard assessments and substitution processes.
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| 2. |
- Hesson, Jenny C., 1980-
(författare)
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Clearing up Culex Confusion : A Basis for Virus Vector Discrimination in Europe
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Mosquito species of the Culex genus are the enzootic vectors for several bird-associated viruses that cause disease in humans. In Europe, these viruses include Sindbis (SINV), West Nile and Usutu viruses. The morphologically similar females of Cx. torrentium and Cx. pipiens are potential vectors of these viruses, but difficulties in correctly identifying the mosquito species have caused confusion regarding their respective distribution, abundance, ecology, and consequently their importance as vectors. Species-specific knowledge from correctly identified field material is however of crucial importance since previous research shows that the relatively unknown Cx. torrentium is a far more efficient SINV vector than the widely recognized Cx. pipiens. The latter is involved in the transmission of several other viruses, but its potential importance for SINV transmission is debated.In this thesis I describe the development of a molecular method for species identification, based on reliably identified males of Cx. torrentium and Cx. pipiens. This identification method was then used in consecutive studies on the distribution and relative abundance of the two species in Sweden and 12 other European countries, SINV field infection rates in mosquitoes identified to species level, and evaluation of potential trap bias associated with common sampling techniques.The results showed that Cx. torrentium is a far more common species in Europe than previously assumed. In Sweden and Finland, it is the dominant species, accounting for 89% of the sampled Culex population. In central Europe, it is equally common to Cx. pipiens, while Cx. pipiens dominates south of the Alps Mountain range. Larvae of both species are often found together in both artificial containers (e.g. car tires) and natural sites. Also, a trapping bias against Cx. torrentium was revealed for CDC-traps. For the first time, SINV was isolated from species-identified Cx. torrentium and Cx. pipiens mosquitoes caught in the field, with Cx. torrentium being superior in infection rates (36/1,000 vs. 8.2/1,000). Future studies on SINV, as well as other mosquito-borne bird viruses in Europe, can hopefully gain from the baseline information provided here, and from principles of vector discrimination discussed in the thesis.
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