Zebrafish as a model organism for the study of toxicity and effectiveness of new antitumor therapies

The zebrafish have many advantages that led to be a model organism with a great potential in translational research. The zebrafish embryos are an ideal platform to evaluate novel cancer therapies. For this reason, the main goal of this thesis has been evaluating the therapeutic potential of different anticancer therapies in zebrafish embryos. To accomplish this, we evaluated the toxicity in vitro and in vivo of some commonly used anticancer drugs in order to determinate crucial toxicological profiles for zebrafish xenograft studies. Additionally, we develop a newly nanoemulsion based on the anticancer drug edelfosine which let us to study parameters such as toxicity, biodistribution and efficacy in xenografted zebrafish models

Carbon Nanotubes as Solid-Phase Extraction Sorbents Prior to Atomic Spectrometric Determination of Metal Species: Determination of Lead in Urine

The 18th International Electronic Conference on Synthetic Organic Chemistry session Polymer and Supramolecular ChemistryNew materials have significant impact on development of new methods and instrumentation for chemical analysis. From the discovery of carbon nanotubes in 1991, single and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs and MWCNTs) -due to their high adsorption and desorption capacities- have been employed as sorption substrates in solid-phase extraction for the preconcentration of heavy metals from diverse matrices. In the present work, a new method for the Pb determination by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) in urine at low levels has been developed. Lead was separated from the undesirable urine matrix by means of a solid phase extraction (SPE) procedure using oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes as a sorbent materia

The Potential of Zebrafish as a Model Organism for Improving the Translation of Genetic Anticancer Nanomedicines

In the last few decades, the field of nanomedicine applied to cancer has revolutionized cancer treatment: several nanoformulations have already reached the market and are routinely being used in the clinical practice. In the case of genetic nanomedicines, i.e., designed to deliver gene therapies to cancer cells for therapeutic purposes, advances have been less impressive. This is because of the many barriers that limit the access of the therapeutic nucleic acids to their target site, and the lack of models that would allow for an improvement in the understanding of how nanocarriers can be tailored to overcome them. Zebrafish has important advantages as a model species for the study of anticancer therapies, and have a lot to offer regarding the rational development of efficient delivery of genetic nanomedicines, and hence increasing the chances of their successful translation. This review aims to provide an overview of the recent advances in the development of genetic anticancer nanomedicines, and of the zebrafish models that stand as promising tools to shed light on their mechanisms of action and overall potential in oncologyThis work was supported by the Xunta de Galicia, Spain (Competitive Reference Groups, GRC2014/010), the Carlos III Health Institute/FEDER (PI15/00828), and the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (FPU15/06595)S