e n v i r o n m e n t a l t o x i c o l o g y a n d p h a r m a c o l o g y 3 7 ( 2 0 1 4 ) 24–27 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect j o ur nal ho me pa ge: www.elsevier.com/locate/etap Short communication Comparison of embryo toxicity using two classes of aquatic vertebrates Gunnar Carlsson * , Leif Norrgren Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7028, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 10 September 2013 Received in revised form 24 October 2013 Accepted 27 October 2013 Available online 4 November 2013 Keywords: Amphibians Fish Embryo Toxicity a b s t r a c t Toxicity tests of musk ketone (MK) and tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA) on embryos were conducted in two amphibian species, Xenopus (Silurana) tropicalis and the Swedish native species Rana arvalis. TBBPA was also tested on fish embryos of Danio rerio. All species were tested in similar experimental setup. Musk ketone caused decreased heart rates at con- centrations from 10 and 100 g/L in R. arvalis and X. tropicalis, respectively. TBBPA caused effects at 1000 g/L in all three species. The responses were comparable between all three species which supports the relevance for using data from non-native species in national risk assessment. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The fish embryo toxicity (FET) test (OECD, 2013) which is based on individual exposure of eggs in well-plates has been frequently used with zebrafish (Danio rerio) in routine efflu- ent monitoring and in testing of single chemicals (Braunbeck et al., 2005; Carlsson and Norrgren, 2004). Studies have shown promising results with comparable data when adapting two other fish species recommended by OECD, the Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) and the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) to the same protocol (Braunbeck et al., 2005). D. rerio as well as Xenopus frogs are aquatic animals from two different classes of aquatic vertebrates which allows for regular studies of embryo toxicity due to simple ways of obtaining eggs. Young stages of both species have been used ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +46 18671145. E-mail address: gunnar.carlsson@slu.se (G. Carlsson). widely in development and toxicity models and standardised guidelines are available (OECD, 2013; ASTM, 1999). However, performing risk assessment for regional conditions, based on the results from toxicity studies on non-native species, can be questioned. The aim of the present study was to compare the responses and the sensitivity between embryos from two different classes of aquatic vertebrates, fish and amphibians when exposed to two environmentally relevant substances, musk ketone (MK) and tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA). This was accomplished by using the same embryo toxicity method to test both D. rerio and west-African clawed frog (Xenopus (Silurana) tropicalis) in identical experimental setup. Further, to explore the relevance of the result from the two tropical species to a native Swedish species, also embryos of moor frog (Rana arvalis) were exposed to these chemicals. Data for MK 1382-6689/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.etap.2013.10.015