Evaluation of the teratogenic effects of three traditional Chinese medicines, Si Jun Zi Tang,Liu Jun Zi Tang and Shenling Baizhu San,during zebrafish pronephros development

The aim of this study was to evaluate the teratogenic effects of three common Chinesemedical prescriptions, Si Jun Zi Tang (SJZT), Liu Jun Zi Tang (LJZT) and Shenling BaizhuSan (SLBS), during zebrafish pronephros development. We used the transgenic zebrafish lineTg(wt1b:EGFP) to assess the teratogenic effects using12 different protocols, which comprised combinations of 4 doses (0, 25, 250, 1,250 ng/mL)and 3 exposure methods [methods I, 12–36 hours post fertilization (hpf), II, 24–48 hpf,and III, 24–36 hpf]. As a result, few defects in the kidneys were observed in the embryosexposed to 25 ng/mL of each medical prescription. The percentage of kidney malformationphenotypes increased as the exposure concentrations increased (25 ng/mL, 0–10%; 250 ng/mL,0–60%; 1,250 ng/mL, 80–100%). Immunohistochemistry for α6F, which is a basolateral andrenal tubular differentiation marker, revealed no obvious defective phenotypes in eitherSJZT- or LJZT-treated embryos, indicating that these Chinese medical prescriptions hadminimal adverse effects on the pronephric duct. However, SLBS-treated embryos displayed adefective phenotype in the pronephric duct. According to these findings, we suggest (1)that the Chinese medical prescriptions induced kidney malformation phenotypes that aredose dependent and (2) that the embryonic zebrafish kidney was more sensitive to SLBS thanSJZT and LJZT.