High-throughput screening (HTS) using new approach methods is revolutionizing toxicology. Asexual freshwater planarians are a promising invertebrate model for neurotoxicity HTS because their diverse behaviors can be used as quantitative readouts of neuronal function. Currently, three planarian species are commonly used in toxicology research: Dugesia japonica, Schmidtea mediterranea, and Girardia tigrina. However, only D. japonica has been demonstrated to be suitable for HTS. Here, we assess the two other species for HTS suitability by direct comparison with D. japonica. Through quantitative assessments of morphology and multiple behaviors, we assayed the effects of 4 common solvents (DMSO, ethanol, methanol, ethyl acetate) and a negative control (sorbitol) on neurodevelopment. Each chemical was screened blind at 5 concentrations at two time points over a twelve-day period. We obtained two main results: First, G. tigrina and S. mediterranea planarians showed significantly reduced movement compared to D. japonica under HTS conditions, due to decreased health over time and lack of movement under red lighting, respectively. This made it difficult to obtain meaningful readouts from these species. Second, we observed species differences in sensitivity to the solvents, suggesting that care must be taken when extrapolating chemical effects across planarian species. Overall, our data show that D. japonica is best suited for behavioral HTS given the limitations of the other species. Standardizing which planarian species is used in neurotoxicity screening will facilitate data comparisons across research groups and accelerate the application of this promising invertebrate system for first-tier chemical HTS, helping streamline toxicology testing.

中文翻译：

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Dugesia japonica 是三种涡虫物种中最适合进行高通量毒理学筛选的。

使用新方法的高通量筛选 (HTS) 正在彻底改变毒理学。无性淡水涡虫是神经毒性 HTS 的有前途的无脊椎动物模型，因为它们的不同行为可用作神经元功能的定量读数。目前，三种涡虫物种常用于毒理学研究：Dugesia japonica、Schmidtea mediterranea 和 Girardia tigrina。然而，只有 D. japonica 已被证明适合 HTS。在这里，我们通过与 D. japonica 直接比较来评估其他两种物种的 HTS 适应性。通过对形态和多种行为的定量评估，我们分析了 4 种常见溶剂（DMSO、乙醇、甲醇、乙酸乙酯）和阴性对照（山梨糖醇）对神经发育的影响。在 12 天的时间里，在两个时间点以 5 个浓度对每种化学物质进行盲筛。我们获得了两个主要结果：首先，在 HTS 条件下，与 D. japonica 相比，G. tigrina 和 S. mediterranea 涡虫的运动显着减少，这分别是由于健康随着时间的推移而下降和在红光下缺乏运动。这使得很难从这些物种中获得有意义的读数。其次，我们观察到物种对溶剂的敏感性存在差异，这表明在推断涡虫物种的化学效应时必须小心。总体而言，我们的数据表明，鉴于其他物种的局限性，粳稻最适合行为 HTS。