Lethality - day 7 - 87 compoundsThe data is each planarian's status at day 7. Alive planarian was marked as "0". Dead planarian was marked as "1". Suicide planarian was marked as "10".Lethality - day 12 - 87 compoundsThe data is each planarian's status at day 12. Alive planarian was marked as "0". Dead planarian was marked as "1". Suicide planarian was marked as "10".Eye regeneration - day 7 - 87 compoundsThe data is regenerated eyes of regenerating tails at day 7. Normal eye regeneration with 2 eyes regenerated was marked as "1". Abnormal eye regeneration with 0/1/>2 eyes regenerated was marked as "0". Indeterminate planarian (i.e. when the worm was flipped over) was marked as "-1". Dead/suicide planarian was marked as "NaN". Both Indeterminate and dead/suicide planarians were considered as non-analyzable planarians.Unstimulated behavior - day 7 - 87 compoundsThe data is quantification of planarian's behavior in unstimulated assay at day 7. The speed data is the mean speed of each planarian. The resting data is the fraction of time planarian spent resting in the unstimulated assay. Non-analyzable planarians, including dead/suicide planarians, were marked as "NaN".Unstimulated behavior - day 12 - 87 compoundsThe data is quantification of planarian's behavior in unstimulated assay at day 7. The speed data is the mean speed of each planarian. The resting data is the fraction of time planarian spent resting in the unstimulated assay. Non-analyzable planarians, including dead/suicide planarians, were marked as "NaN".Phototaxis - day 7 - 87 compoundsThe data is the binary presence/absence of a response to light in phototaxis assay at day 7. Planarian having reacted to the light stimulus was marked as "1". Planarian with no reaction to light was marked as "0". Non-analyzable planarian was marked as "NaN".Phototaxis - day 12 - 87 compoundsThe data is the binary presence/absence of a response to light in phototaxis assay at day 12. Planarian having reacted to the light stimulus was marked as "1". Planarian with no reaction to light was marked as "0". Non-analyzable planarian was marked as "NaN".Thermotaxis - day 12 - 87 compoundsThe data is quantification of planarian's response to temperature gradient in thermotaxis assay at day 12, which is the fraction of time the planarian spent in the cold area during the last minutes of the assay. Non analyzable planarian was marked as "NaN".Scrunching - day 12 - 87 compoundsThe data is the binary presence/absence of scrunching behavior during the scrunching assay. The scrunching planarian was marked as "1". The non-scrunching planarian was marked as "0". The non-analyzable planarian was marked as "NaN".Description for raw data filesA summary description for the 9 excel files of raw data.

There is an increased recognition in the field of toxicology of the value of medium-to-high-throughput screening methods using in vitro and alternative animal models. We have previously introduced the asexual freshwater planarian Dugesia japonica as a new alternative animal model and proposed that it is particularly well-suited for the study of developmental neurotoxicology. In this paper, we discuss how we have expanded and automated our screening methodology to allow for fast screening of multiple behavioral endpoints, developmental toxicity, and mortality. Using an 87-compound library provided by the National Toxicology Program (NTP), consisting of known and suspected neurotoxicants, including drugs, flame retardants, industrial chemicals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pesticides and presumptive negative controls, we further evaluate the benefits and limitations of the system for medium-throughput screening, focusing on the technical aspects of the system. We show that, in the context of this library, planarians are the most sensitive to pesticides with 16/16 compounds causing toxicity and the least sensitive to PAHs, with only 5/17 causing toxicity. Furthermore, while none of the presumptive negative controls were bioactive in adult planarians, 2/5, acetaminophen and acetylsalicylic acid, were bioactive in regenerating worms. Notably, these compounds were previously reported as developmentally toxic in mammalian studies. Through parallel screening of adults and developing animals, planarians are thus a useful model to detect such developmental-specific effects, which was observed for 13 chemicals in this library. We use the data and experience gained from this screen to propose guidelines for best practices when using planarians for toxicology screens.