Table 1.

Evaluation of toxicity of herbal formulae/prescriptions using the Zebrafish embryotoxicity model.

No	Herb formulae/medical prescription	Medicinal use	Type of zebrafish	Toxic effects		References	Toxicity compared with other assays
				Survival/mortality	Teratogenic and other toxic effects
1	Chinese medical prescriptions (CMPs) Si jun Zi Tang (SJZT) Liu jun Zi Tang (LJZT) Shenling Baizhu (SLBS)	Prescribed for poor appetite, loose stool, abdominal distension, lassitude, prolapsed anus, shortness of breath, dysphasia, and spontaneous sweating	Transgenic zebrafish line Tg (wt1b:EGFP)	All three CMPs exhibited 93.3 ± 6.7% to 100 ± 0.0% of survival at 48 hpf after exposure to 25 and 250 ng/mL. The survival rates decreased to 53.3 ± 8.1% to 86.7 ± 6.7% when exposed to 1250 ng/mL of all CMPs	The % of kidney malformation reported for different concentration 25 ng/mL, 0–10%; 250 ng/mL, 0–60%; 1,250 ng/mL, 80–100%) Embryonic zebrafish kidney was more sensitive to SLBS	[20]	Not compared
2	Chinese patent medicine (CPM), compound Danshen Tablet (CDT), Angong Niuhuang Pill (ANP), and Lidan Paishi Tablet (LPT)	Used to treat heart diseases, central nervous system diseases, and gallbladder diseases	AB strain zebrafish	The LC50 values for CDT, ANP, and LPT were calculated as 417, 596, and 380 μg/mL, respectively.	EC50 values of teratogenic effects were 351, 793, and 220 μg/mL for CDT, ANP, and LPT. The tail bending and cardiac oedema were the main teratogenic effects. CDT and LPT were cardiotoxic	[21]	Not compared