Does transcriptional profiling reveal barcode-like toxicogenomic responses in the zebrafish embryo?
Our results show that the genome of the zebrafish embryo responds to toxicant exposure in a highly sensitive and specific manner. Our work provides proof-of-principle for the use of the zebrafish embryo as a toxicogenomic model and highlights its potential for systematic, large-scale analysis of the effects of chemicals on the developing vertebrate embryo.
Contrary to expectations, the duration of presenting symptoms was correlated inversely with disease state at the time of presentation. This finding has implications for lawsuits alleging that a "delay in diagnosis" leads to more advanced disease. There is weak evidence (P = 0.08) that males have a longer duration of symptoms than females. This may be related to gender-associated behavior expectations.