Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology Volume 237

Tejeda-Benitez, Lesly, Olivero-Verbel, Jesus, Lesly Tejeda-Benitez, Jesus Olivero-Verbel

Caenorhabditis elegans is a nematode widely used as a toxicological model. The transparency of its body, short lifespan, ability to self-fertilize and ease of culture are advantages that make it ideal as a model in toxicology. Due to the fact that some of its biochemical pathways are similar to those of humans, it has been employed in research in several fields. Its use in environmental toxicological assessments allows the determination of multiple endpoints such as lethality, growth, reproduction, and locomotion. Other endpoints use reporter genes, such as GFP, driven by regulatory sequences from genes modulated by different toxicity pathways, such as heat shock responses, oxidative stress, xenobiotic metabolism, and metallothioneins production, among others. C. elegans has allowed the evaluation of neurotoxic effects for heavy metals and pesticides, among those more frequently studied, as the nematode has a very well defined nervous system. More recently, nanoparticles are emergent pollutants whose toxicity can be explored using this nematode. Overall, almost every type of known toxicant has been tested with this animal model. In the near future, the available knowledge on the life cycle of C. elegans should allow more studies on reproduction and transgenerational toxicity for newly developed chemicals and materials, as a powerful tool to protect human health.