Morphometric and ANOVA analysis of the loach embryo parameters under the PEG-carrier influence

In the biomedical field, polyethylene glycol-based materials demonstrate remarkable positive potential as drug delivery systems, in wound healing, and tissue engineering. It’s known that complex of polyethylene glycol and thiazole derivative has demonstrated high cytotoxicity against diverse tumor cell lines, such as melanoma, glioblastoma, hepatocarcinoma, and leukemia. However, studies on the impact of nanocarriers on sensitive test systems, such as cold-blooded animal embryos, also deserve attention. Our research on loach embryos established that 10 µmol/L of PEG-carrier initiated positive, significant changes in the survival of embryos and prelarvae, while 100 µmol/L caused embryo swelling. The aim of this work was to identify the morphometric parameters of cold-blooded animal embryos during early development and to analyze their changes under the influence of the PEG-carrier using ANOVA. The relative surface area and diameter of the roe, blastomers, embryos, and yolk were the most informative parameters. We observed that the mPEG-carrier at 10 µmol/L doesn’t exhibit embryotoxic properties and even positively influences embryo survival. A significant increase in the relative surface area and diameter of blastomers and embryos (roe, embryo, yolk) was only observed under the influence of 100 µmol/L of the carrier. The share of mPEG-polymer’s influence on the morphometric changes in embryos was significant (58.0–80.0%) at the 3rd and 6th hours of development, with the exception of changes in the area of eggs/yolk. Two-factor analysis confirmed that changes in the relative area and diameter of the roe, embryo, yolk, and blastomers of loach are significantly caused by the mPEG-polymer addition factor (51.3%, P≤0.05) to the incubation medium, and do not depend on the factor of development time. As known, an increase in the size and relative surface area of germ cells and embryos indicates the embryotoxic properties of substances, potentially leading to embryo death. Therefore, PEG-modification improves the biocompatibility of nanomaterials and can significantly reduce the toxicity of active components. However, the use of PEG-polymer requires strict control over concentration, structure, and administration regimen due to its clear dose-dependent toxicity, potential immune responses, and biodegradability issues.