Creative Biogene

Currently, the mortality rate of mild acute pancreatitis is less than 1%, but the mortality rate of severe pancreatitis can be as high as 30%. Drugs often cause 0.1% to 2% of acute pancreatitis events. Most cases of drug-induced pancreatitis are mild to moderate in severity, but severe and even fatal cases can occur. There is therefore an urgent need for animal models capable of identifying drug-induced pancreatitis during drug development for reducing the risk of drug-induced pancreatitis. The zebrafish model is now widely integrated into developmental biology and toxicology studies, and the basic structure and function of the pancreas is conserved between zebrafish and mammals. The exocrine compartment of zebrafish secretes enzymes into the digestive tract, and the endocrine compartment produces insulin, glucagon, somatostatin, and ghrelin. Furthermore, zebrafish embryos are transparent and externally fertilized, which allows direct visualization of developing pancreatic structures throughout developmental time. These properties make the zebrafish embryo one of the most suitable models to study pancreatic development and toxicity in vivo, which can be used to elucidate the cellular mechanisms involved in these toxicity.