Biotests in Cyanobacterial Toxicity Assessment—Efficient Enough or Not?

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Cyanobacterial toxins (cyanotoxins) pose a threat to human, animal, and environmental health. This review article provides an overview of the challenges associated with the detection and characterization of cyanotoxins using various biotests. The article discusses the use of alternative aquatic model organisms for the assays and the need for a multi-level approach to studying cyanotoxicity. The authors suggest that continued development and refinement of assays is necessary for their improved detection, characterization, and risk assessment and emphasize the need for a multi-level approach to studying cyanotoxicity. ABSTRACT: Cyanobacteria are a diverse group of organisms known for producing highly potent cyanotoxins that pose a threat to human, animal, and environmental health. These toxins have varying chemical structures and toxicity mechanisms and several toxin classes can be present simultaneously, making it difficult to assess their toxic effects using physico-chemical methods, even when the producing organism and its abundance are identified. To address these challenges, alternative organisms among aquatic vertebrates and invertebrates are being explored as more assays evolve and diverge from the initially established and routinely used mouse bioassay. However, detecting cyanotoxins in complex environmental samples and characterizing their toxic modes of action remain major challenges. This review provides a systematic overview of the use of some of these alternative models and their responses to harmful cyanobacterial metabolites. It also assesses the general usefulness, sensitivity, and efficiency of these models in investigating the mechanisms of cyanotoxicity expressed at different levels of biological organization. From the reported findings, it is clear that cyanotoxin testing requires a multi-level approach. While studying changes at the whole-organism level is essential, as the complexities of whole organisms are still beyond the reach of in vitro methodologies, understanding cyanotoxicity at the molecular and biochemical levels is necessary for meaningful toxicity evaluations. Further research is needed to refine and optimize bioassays for cyanotoxicity testing, which includes developing standardized protocols and identifying novel model organisms for improved understanding of the mechanisms with fewer ethical concerns. In vitro models and computational modeling can complement vertebrate bioassays and reduce animal use, leading to better risk assessment and characterization of cyanotoxins.