• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Health

Planaria flatworms can be alternative screening tool to avoid rabbit skin testing

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
October 1, 2020
in Health
Reading Time: 2 mins read
1
IMAGE
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

IMAGE

Credit: University of Reading, 2020

Tests for skin treatments could be screened using flatworms rather than other animals such as rabbits, according to new research.

A team at the University of Reading and Newcastle University have found that planaria, a type of flatworm, can be used as a reliable alternative for testing topical skin products used to treat human tissues such as the eyes, nose or vagina to ensure that they are not harmful.

The paper, published in Toxicology in Vitro, shows how the use of a fluorescent dye mixed with a potential skin product is absorbed through the outer layers of skin in the planaria.

The tests are cheaper and more ethical than existing animal tests, because planaria are readily available and easily cultured in a laboratory – and don’t experience suffering. While other tests are carried out on human skin cells in a petri dish, the new screening method would provide a more accurate test of how the potential skin product would interact with living tissue.

Professor Vitaliy Khutoryanskiy, a Professor of Formulation Science at the University of Reading said:

“Developing more ethical alternatives to tests that others do on rabbits, known as the Draize test, has been a major challenge, especially in relation to evaluating products for sensitive human tissue. Our tests with flatworms show that there are potential ways to screen skin irritants in a more ethically responsible way.

“While the vast majority of cosmetic skin products are no longer tested on animals, it remains critical that new developments for clinical treatments are tested robustly and we hope that we can find solutions that consign the Draize test to history. We also hope to continue planaria research and develop further tests for probe irritation potential of chemicals to other human tissues.”

A series of tests with the flatworms looked at whether they can be used to screen for products that are irritants to human skin. Two of the methods, which involved observing the movement of the worms when exposed to known irritants and measuring acute toxicity were not useful.

However, there was a positive result in tests which used the common fluorescent dye alongside short-term and low concentration exposure to various chemicals. The planaria which were exposed to known human skin irritants had significant levels of the fluorescent dye under their skin.

About Planaria:

Planaria are a freshwater-living flatworms which are already widely used in scientific research. They are advanced invertebrates with a primitive brain and share similar features with the vertebrate nervous system found in animals including mammals, examples of the ways that planaria are used include testing the neurotoxicity of potentially hazardous substances. Planaria have a simple but well-characterised epidermal membrane similar to skin that acts as the first point of contact between the worm and a foreign substance.

###

Media Contact
Tim Mayo
[email protected]

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tiv.2020.105004

Tags: Chemistry/Physics/Materials SciencesDermatologyPharmaceutical ChemistryPharmaceutical SciencePharmaceutical SciencesPharmaceutical/Combinatorial Chemistry
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

circMAN1A2-CENPB Interaction Drives Cancer Cell Growth

September 30, 2025

Emerging Review Highlights Rising Heavy Metal Risks in Reservoirs, Advocates for Advanced Monitoring and Eco-Friendly Remediation Strategies

September 30, 2025

Comparative Validation of Diet History in Eating Disorders

September 30, 2025

Public Opinion on COVID-19 Policy Effectiveness

September 30, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    87 shares
    Share 35 Tweet 22
  • Physicists Develop Visible Time Crystal for the First Time

    73 shares
    Share 29 Tweet 18
  • How Donor Human Milk Storage Impacts Gut Health in Preemies

    59 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15
  • Scientists Discover and Synthesize Active Compound in Magic Mushrooms Again

    56 shares
    Share 22 Tweet 14

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

circMAN1A2-CENPB Interaction Drives Cancer Cell Growth

Emerging Review Highlights Rising Heavy Metal Risks in Reservoirs, Advocates for Advanced Monitoring and Eco-Friendly Remediation Strategies

Biogas Slurry Enhances Biochar’s Climate Benefits by Transforming Soil Microbial Communities

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 60 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.