Developmental and organ-specific toxicity of cucurbit[7]uril: in vivo study on zebrafish models

The macrocyclic molecular container cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]), the most water-soluble homologue in the cucurbit[n]uril family (n = 5–8, 10, 14), has been evaluated for its in vivo toxicity profile, including its developmental toxicity such as its effect on hatching, growth and survival, as well as its potential organ-specific toxicities such as cardiotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, and locomotion and behavioral toxicity, using zebrafish models. The results revealed that CB[7] has measureable cardiotoxicity and locomotion and behavioral toxicity at concentrations of ∼500 μM or higher, and negligible developmental and hepatotoxicity at concentrations up to 750 μM, although extended exposure to CB[7] in the 500–750 μM concentration range induced the mortality of tested fish. These results demonstrate for the first time with live in vivo animal models that CB[7] has relatively low developmental and organic specific toxicity, and support further exploration of the use of CB[7] in biomedical research at sub-toxic concentrations.