Impact of post-hatching maturation on the pharmacokinetics of paracetamol in zebrafish larvae

Zebrafish larvae are increasingly used in pharmacological and toxicological studies, but it is often overlooked that internal exposure to exogenous compounds, rather than the incubation medium concentration, is driving observed effects. Moreover, as the zebrafish larva is a developing organism, continuous physiological changes impact pharmacokinetic or toxicokinetic processes like the absorption and elimination of exogenous compounds, influencing the interpretation of observations and conclusions drawn from experiments at different larval ages. Here, using paracetamol as paradigm compound, mathematical modelling is used to quantify absorption and elimination rates from internal exposure over time profiles after waterborne treatment, as well as changes in these parameters in post-hatching larvae of 3, 4, and 5 days post fertilisation (dpf). An increase of 106% in absorption rate was observed between 3 and 4 dpf, but no further increase at 5 dpf, and an increase of 17.5% in elimination rate for each dpf. Paracetamol clearance, determined from elimination rate constants and reported total larval volumes of 253, 263, and 300 nL at 3, 4, and 5 dpf respectively, correlates best with higher vertebrates at 5 dpf. This suggests that when studying direct effects of exogenous compounds, experiments with zebrafish larvae are best performed at 5 dpf.