This Café Scientifique featured research by Dr. Nico Grasse on the biotransformation of xenobiotics in zebrafish embryos as a promising alternative model for chemical risk assessment. The work investigated internal concentrations, uptake kinetics, and biotransformation of over 100 compounds, finding that measured and predicted concentrations agreed within one order of magnitude for 79% of compounds. Case studies on acrylamide and methacrylamide derivatives demonstrated that while reactivity drives in vitro cytotoxicity, in vivo toxicity is strongly modulated by toxicokinetics, supporting the broader applicability of zebrafish embryos in ethical and cost-effective chemical risk assessment.
