The zebrafish embryo as an in vivo model for screening nanoparticle-formulated lipophilic anti-tuberculosis compounds.

ABSTRACT With the increasing emergence of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains, new and effective antibiotics against tuberculosis (TB) are urgently needed. However, the high frequency of poorly water-soluble compounds among hits in high-throughput drug screening campaigns is a major obstacle in drug discovery. Moreover, in vivo testing using conventional animal TB models, such as mice, is time consuming and costly, and represents a major bottleneck in lead compound discovery and development. Here, we report the use of the zebrafish embryo TB model for evaluating the in vivo toxicity and efficacy of five poorly water-soluble nitronaphthofuran derivatives, which were recently id…