Developmental biology is a fascinating branch of science which helps us to understand the mechanism of development, thus the findings are used in various therapeutic approach. Drosophila melanogaster served as a model to find the key molecules that initiate and regulate the mechanism of development. Various genes, transcription factors, and signaling pathways helping in development are identified in Drosophila. Many toxic compounds, which can affect the development, are also recognized using Drosophila model. These compounds, which can affect the development, are named as a teratogen. Many teratogens identified using Drosophila may also act as a teratogen for a human being since 75% of conservation exist between the disease genes present in Drosophila and human. There are certain teratogens, which do not cause developmental defect if exposed during pregnancy, however; behavioral defect appears in later part of development. Such compounds are named as a behavioral teratogen. Thus, it is worthy to identify the potential behavioral teratogen using Drosophila model. Drosophila behavior is well studied in various developmental stages. This chapter describes various methods which can be employed to test behavioral teratogenesis in Drosophila.
Exposure to some toxic compounds causes structural and behavioral anomalies associated with the neurons in the later stage of life. Those toxic compounds are termed as a neurotoxicant, which can be a physical factor, a toxin, an infection, radiation, or maybe a drug. The incongruities caused due to a neurotoxicant further depend on the toxicity of the compound. More importantly, the neurotoxicity of the compound is associated with the concentration and the time point of exposure. The neurodevelopmental defect appears depending on the toxicity of the compound. A neurodevelopmental defect may be associated with a delay in developmental time, defective growth, structural abnormality of many organs, including sensory organs, behavioral abnormalities, or death in the fetus stage. Numerous model organisms are employed to assess the effect of neurotoxicants. The current review summarizes several methods used to check the effect of neurotoxicant and their effect using the model organism Drosophila melanogaster.
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