Assessment of Paclitaxel toxicity in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans

CANDELARIA GONZALES-MORENO; PATRICIA LUCERO; VICTORIA LEONHARD; ROXANA ALASINO; DANTE BELTRAMO; MIRIAM B. VIRGOLINI

Congreso; III LATIN AMERICAN WORM MEETING; 2023

Paclitaxel is a plant alkaloid extracted from the bark of the Pacific yew tree. This agent works by disrupting the microtubular network essential for cell division and other normal cell functions, ultimately causing cell death. These properties determine its therapeutic use as an antitumoral s and the need for toxicity assessment. In this study, the round-worm Caenorhabditis elegans was selected as an experimental model to evaluate a paclitaxel nanoformulation. Two exposure times: 1 h and 24 h, and 3 concentrations, 100 ng/ml, 500 ng/ml and 1000 ng/ml, in addition to the control group and vehicle (DMSO) were assessed a in liquid medium, run in triplicate, in a total of four independent samples. Lethality, size (length and area), and locomotion were evaluated in L4 N2 worms. The results demonstrated 100% survival for all doses and exposure times. Interestingly, a dose-dependent effect was seen in the worm’s size and several movement parameters as provided by the Microtracker device (Phylumtech S.A.), such as average speed, distance travelled and motility score. The results demonstrate the sensitivity of the invertebrate C. elegans to detect subtle effects in the framework of the nanosafety evaluation of therapeutic agents used in oncology.