Environmental toxicology has been expanding as growing concerns on the impact of produced and released chemical compounds over the environment and human health are being demonstrated. Among the toxic effects observed in organisms exposed to pollutants, those affecting skeletal tissues (osteotoxicity) have been somehow overlooked in comparison to hepato-, immune-, neuro- and/or reproductive toxicities. Nevertheless, sub-lethal effects of toxicants on skeletal development and/or bone maintenance may result in impaired growth, reduced survival rate, increased disease susceptibility and diminished welfare. Osteotoxicity may occur by acute or chronic exposure to different environmental insults. Because of biologically and technically advantagous features – easy to breed and inexpensive to maintain, external and rapid rate of development, translucent larvae and the availability of molecular and genetic tools – the zebrafish (Danio rerio) has emerged in the last decade as a vertebrate model system of choice to evaluate osteotoxicity. Different experimental approaches in fish species and analytical tools have been applied, from in vitro to in vivo systems, from specific to high throughput methodologies. Current knowledge on osteotoxicity and underlying mechanisms gained using fish, with a special emphasis on zebrafish systems, is reviewed here. Osteotoxicants have been classified into four categories according to the pathway involved in the transduction of the osteotoxic effects: activation/inhibition of membrane and/or nuclear receptors, alteration of redox condition, mimicking of bone constituents and unknown pathways. Knowledge on these pathways is also reported here as it may provide critical insights into the development, production and release of future chemical compounds with none or low osteotoxicity, thus promoting the green/environmental friendly chemistry.

随着越来越多的人关注所产生和释放的化合物对环境和人类健康的影响，环境毒理学一直在扩展。在暴露于污染物的生物中观察到的毒性作用中，与肝毒性，免疫毒性，神经毒性和/或生殖毒性相比，影响骨骼组织的那些毒性（骨毒性）被忽略了。然而，毒物对骨骼发育和/或骨骼维持的亚致死作用可能导致生长受损，存活率降低，疾病易感性增加以及福利降低。急性或慢性暴露于不同的环境损害下可能会发生骨毒性。由于具有生物学和技术上的优势-易于繁殖，维护成本低，外部和快速发展，在过去的十年中，Danio rerio（Danio rerio）已经成为评估骨毒性的首选脊椎动物模型系统。从体外到体内，已经在鱼类物种和分析工具中应用了不同的实验方法系统，从特定方法到高通量方法。本文综述了目前关于鱼类毒性和潜在机制的知识，特别是斑马鱼系统。根据骨毒性作用的传导途径，骨毒性剂可分为四类：膜/核受体的激活/抑制，氧化还原条件的改变，骨成分的模仿和未知途径。在此也报告了有关这些途径的知识，因为它可以提供对无骨毒性或低骨毒性的未来化合物的开发，生产和释放的重要见解，从而促进绿色/环境友好型化学反应。