{"topic_id":"evidence_exotic_ferret_toxicology","category":"evidence","context":"---\ntopic_id: evidence_exotic_ferret_toxicology\ncategory: evidence\ntitle: \"Evidence cluster — Ferret (Mustela putorius furo) toxicology (peer-reviewed, Europe PMC)\"\nlang: en\nsource: \"Europe PMC (Europe PubMed Central) REST search, first-hand peer-reviewed abstracts, pulled 2026-08-01\"\nsource_file: pdf-raw/evidence/europepmc_ferret_toxicology_2026-08-01.txt\ndate_parsed: 2026-08-01\ntokens_estimated: 4973\nverification:\n  method: substring_match\n  claims: 12\n  passed: 12\n  date: 2026-08-01\nsource_document: \"Peer-reviewed Ferret toxicology literature (Europe PMC, first-hand abstracts)\"\ncitation:\n  authority: \"Europe PMC\"\n  title: \"Evidence cluster — Ferret (Mustela putorius furo) toxicology (peer-reviewed, Europe PMC)\"\n  url: \"https://www.ebi.ac.uk/europepmc/\"\n  retrieved: \"2026-08-01\"\n  doc_type: \"first-hand abstracts (Europe PMC REST)\"\n  needs_review: false\n---\n\n# Evidence: Ferret (Mustela putorius furo) toxicology\n\nSource: Europe PMC (Europe PubMed Central) REST search — first-hand peer-reviewed abstract records, pulled 2026-08-01.\nQueries covered toxicology, poisoning, intoxication, heavy metals, mycotoxins and (for relevant taxa) envenomation for Mustela putorius furo.\nThe cluster returns **12** representative studies with abstracts below. Abstract text is verbatim from source; each study is traceable by PMID.\n\n## Studies\n- **PMID 42265938 (2026, Inhalation toxicology)** — Development of alveoli-distributed lung geometry for ferrets to predict particle deposition in the respiratory tract.. Abstract (opening): <h4>Objective</h4>Ferrets have long served as an important animal model for the study of respiratory infections, inhalation toxicology, and aerosolized therapeutics because of their anatomical and physiological similarities to humans. Despite their widespread use, quantitative models describing particle deposition within the ferret lung remain limited. In this study, we developed a mechanistic dosimetry model to predict total and regional deposition of inhaled inert particles in the ferret lower respiratory tract (LRT).<h4>Materials and methods</h4>Two anatomically based lung geometries were constructed using available morphometric data: a modified typical-path symmetric lung geometry and a more physiologically representative 2-path symmetric lung geometry. Both models were designed to yield realistic lung volumes and airway counts while accommodating the limited availability of airway measurements. Airway dimensions were derived from published morphometric data and extended using sigmoidal curve fits to represent the complete tracheobronchial (TB) and pulmonary (PUL) regions. Lung ventilation was modeled assuming uniform pleural pressure, with airflow distributed proportionally to distal lung volume. Particle transport and deposition were simulated using a one-dimensional (1D) advection-diffusion framework incorporating gravitational settling, inertial impaction, and Brownian diffusion.<h4>Results and discussion</h4>The 2-path symmetric lung geometry enables more realistic predictions of particle deposition throughout the lung, particularly with respect to deposition as a function of lung depth, allowing direct comparison of predicted deposition with <i>in vivo</i> imaging measurements.\n  Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42265938/\n- **PMID 42036348 (2026, The Journal of veterinary medical science)** — Lobular dissecting hepatitis-like chronic hepatitis with bacterial chronic cholangitis in a ferret (Mustela putorius furo).. Abstract (opening): A 1-year-3-month-old neutered female ferret presented with anorexia, weight loss, and increased liver enzymes and total bile acids. On day 49 of illness, neurologic signs appeared, necessitating humane euthanasia. Macroscopically, the liver was pale yellow with an irregular surface, and two tortuous shunt vessels from the cranial mesenteric vein to the caudal vena cava were observed cranial to the left kidney. Microscopically, single or a few hepatocytes were demarcated by reticular and collagen fibers with an extensive ductular reaction throughout all liver lobes. Bacterial chronic cholangitis was observed. Bilaterally symmetrical spongy degeneration was observed in the brain nuclei. Collectively, the present case showed lobular dissecting hepatitis-like chronic hepatitis with chronic cholangitis, accompanied by an acquired portosystemic shunt and hepatic encephalopathy.\n  Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42036348/\n- **PMID 42102174 (2026, PLoS computational biology)** — Limited 'heft' of weight-based outcomes in predicting influenza A virus disease severity in ferrets.. Abstract (opening): Studies evaluating viral pathogenicity in small mammalian models often quantify disease severity using the magnitudes of temperature rise and weight loss post-challenge. However, no rigorous assessment on the transformation of serially collected data into features suitable for predictive models has been conducted. Using data aggregated from ferrets inoculated with a diverse panel of influenza A viruses (IAV) spanning a broad range of clinical outcomes, we assessed statistical correlations and predictive performance of temperature and weight loss, summarized by conventional and novel approaches. Conventional summary metrics (peak values or area under the curve) were weak and inconsistent correlates of overall disease severity and viral titers. Novel dynamic weight metrics capturing onset, duration, slope, and volatility over 14 days showed lower coefficients of variation than conventional summary approaches. However, inclusion of novel metrics did not meaningfully improve the predictive performance of machine learning models for disease severity outcomes in IAV-inoculated ferrets. Mixed-effects models indicated that weight loss post-IAV infection is driven by time and viral burden, with temperature contributing little additional information. Collectively, these findings support that derived metrics are at least comparable, if not enhanced, to conventional summaries for data science analyses of serially generated clinical data from in vivo pathogen studies. However, because pathogen disease severity in mammals is multifactorial, models that rely solely on weight and temperature metrics without additional quantitative measures of clinical perturbation within-host are unlikely to achieve strong predictive performance.\n  Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42102174/\n- **PMID 42027880 (2026, Journal of toxicologic pathology)** — An exophytic multinodular chordoma of the cervical spine in a ferret.. Abstract (opening): An 8-year-old male ferret was presented with dyspnea and large, palpable cervical masses. Pathological examination revealed multiple exophytic nodular masses arising from the atlas and axis. Those vertebrae were almost completely replaced by neoplastic tissue. Histologically, the masses were composed of physaliferous cells with foamy cytoplasm embedded within a prominent chondro-osseous matrix. The diagnosis of chordoma was confirmed by immunohistochemistry, as tumor cells were positive for pan-cytokeratin, vimentin, S-100, and neuron-specific enolase. Notably, some chondrocytes and osteocytes adjacent to the tumor cells also expressed these markers, suggesting a neoplastic origin rather than a reactive process. Ki-67 labeling was confined to a subset of cytokeratin-positive cells at the periphery of the nodules, indicating that peripheral proliferation contributes to the exophytic growth pattern. This report describes a case of cervical chordoma with a unique exophytic presentation in a ferret.\n  Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42027880/\n- **PMID 42318820 (2026, Liver international : official journal of the International Association for the Study of the Liver)** — Mortality Attributable to Hepatitis B and C in Italy, Romania, and Spain, 2022 Estimates.. Abstract (opening): <h4>Background and aims</h4>Reliable data on viral hepatitis-related deaths remain limited, challenging assessment of progress towards the WHO elimination targets for mortality. To address this gap, we estimated hepatitis B- and C-attributable mortality in Italy, Romania, and Spain for 2022.<h4>Methods</h4>Retrospective hospital data on decompensated cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma cases were collected from sentinel sites in each of three countries using standard WHO protocol. The data were used to calculate fractions of these diseases attributable to hepatitis B and C. Adjusted and weighted attributable fractions were applied to national vital statistics data on deaths from cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma from Eurostat to produce national hepatitis mortality estimates.<h4>Results</h4>A total of 1733 cases of decompensated cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma cases were enrolled into the study from sentinel sites across Italy, Romania, and Spain. We estimated that the share of decompensated cirrhosis deaths attributed to hepatitis B was: 8.7% in Italy, 16.8% in Romania and 1.8% in Spain. The respective share of hepatocellular carcinoma deaths attributed to hepatitis B was 19.0% in Italy, 31.2% in Romania and 4.9% in Spain. Hepatitis C accounted for 61.6% of hepatocellular carcinoma deaths in Italy, 36.5% in Romania, and 31.1% in Spain, as well as 32.9% of decompensated cirrhosis deaths in Italy, 18.8% in Romania and 12.7% in Spain. Overall, hepatitis B-related mortality per 100 000 population was 3.1 in Italy, 12.0 in Romania and 0.6 in Spain. Hepatitis C-related mortality was 11.4 per 100 000 population in Italy, 13.8 in Romania and 3.7 in Spain.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Our study yielded empirical data needed to estimate hepatitis mortality for assessing the impact of hepatitis strategies. Whilst our results indicate a reduction in deaths related to hepatitis B and C in Italy and Spain, none of the three countries was meeting the WHO's 2025 target for hepatitis C-related mortality, although the hepatitis B-related mortality target was met by Italy and Spain. Our findings highlight the need for countries to continue strengthening efforts to prevent and control viral hepatitis and to integrate such assessments into national surveillance to guide effective targeting of interventions and monitoring of progress towards the elimination targets.\n  Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42318820/\n- **PMID 42172325 (2026, Science advances)** — Developmental candidate GHP-88310/EIDD-3608 with high tolerability and oral efficacy in measles and respiratory paramyxovirus models.. Abstract (opening): Orthoparamyxoviruses, such as human parainfluenza virus type 3 (HPIV3) and measles virus (MeV), are a major health threat. We discovered an orally efficacious broad-spectrum inhibitor of orthoparamyxovirus polymerases. However, here, we found that tolerability in higher mammals was limited. We report the development of the clinical candidate analog GHP-88310 (EIDD-3608), which combines improved oral efficacy with favorable tolerability in nonrodents (ferrets and dogs). GHP-88310 was active against HPIV3, Sendai virus (SeV), MeV, and related canine distemper virus (CDV). In 7-day tolerability studies, daily doses of 2000 mg/kg were well tolerated. Pharmacokinetic analysis revealed altered plasma exposure of GHP-88310 compared to the original hit. In HPIV3-infected cotton rats, GHP-88310 lowered the respiratory tract viral load. Dosing of ferrets infected with CDV, causing lethal measles-like disease, resulted in complete survival, reduction of viremia and shed viral load, and alleviated lymphocytopenia. Once-daily GHP-88310 was efficacious in the CDV-ferret and HPIV3-cotton rat models. The compound was sterilizing against HPIV3 at physiological concentrations in human airway epithelium organoids.\n  Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42172325/\n- **PMID 41892407 (2026, Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland))** — Pre-Exposure Intranasal Treatment with Neomycin Sulfate Reduces Transmission of Influenza B Virus.. Abstract (opening): <b>Background/Objectives</b>: Influenza B virus infection contributes substantially to annual morbidity and mortality, accounting for 20% to 30% of influenza-associated deaths worldwide. Although vaccination reduces the risk of severe disease, widely used inactivated influenza vaccines are often insufficient to prevent virus transmission. Moreover, influenza B viruses are less susceptible to commonly used antivirals than influenza A viruses. New approaches are therefore required to decrease disease burden and limit virus spread. Neomycin, an aminoglycoside antibiotic, was recently shown to mitigate SARS-CoV-2 transmission in a hamster model. Here, we conducted an exploratory study to assess the effect of neomycin on influenza B virus transmission. <b>Methods</b>: Contact transmission was evaluated using a guinea pig model (n = 4 per group), and aerosol transmission was assessed using a ferret model (n = 6 per group). Animals in the experimental groups received neomycin sulfate (5 mg/guinea pig, 20 mg/ferret) or placebo intranasally, starting one day before exposure to infected animals and continuing for four days thereafter. In the guinea pig study, an additional control group received intranasal interferon alpha. Viral transmission to contact animals was assessed by RT-PCR and virus culture of nasal washes collected over two weeks. Clinical signs and body weight were monitored daily. <b>Results</b>: In the guinea pig model, 75% of contact animals became infected with influenza B virus regardless of treatment. Neither neomycin nor interferon alpha prevented infection, although both delayed the onset of viral shedding in contact animals. In the ferret model, infection occurred in 33% of placebo-treated contact animals, whereas no viral shedding was detected in the neomycin-treated group. <b>Conclusions</b>: Prophylactic intranasal neomycin treatment has the potential to protect exposed individuals from aerosol transmission of influenza B virus during influenza outbreaks.\n  Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41892407/\n- **PMID 41672385 (2026, Alcohol (Fayetteville, N.Y.))** — A ferret model of alcohol consumption during adolescence.. Abstract (opening): Binge drinking is a drinking pattern that results in a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08 g/dL or higher in a 2-h period. Binge drinking rates are often highest in adolescents. Persistent adolescent binge drinking has unique consequences and can produce social, cognitive, and executive function deficits. Most of what we know about the mechanisms underlying the effects of adolescent alcohol exposure comes from rodent studies. We developed an adolescent alcohol consumption paradigm in ferrets termed Intermittent One-Bottle (IOB). Ferrets received a bottle of 5% alcohol for 24 h (no water). Following this alcohol only day, ferrets had ad-lib access to both water and 5% alcohol (2-bottle choice) for the remaining days of the week. This 7-day cycle was repeated for 9 weeks. Animal BACs were assessed. After the drinking period, ex vivo electrophysiology recordings were collected from layer V medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) pyramidal neurons. Average alcohol consumption on two-bottle and one-bottle days was significantly higher in males than females. Average BAC for males was above the level of legal intoxication. Males were split between heavy and light drinkers, with heavy drinkers having significantly higher alcohol consumption, BAC levels, and mPFC excitability. Despite low consumption in females, they displayed significant changes in action potential latency, onset time, and width. Our findings show for the first time that ferrets can drink voluntarily at physiological doses. Intermittent one-bottle drinking results in moderate to heavy alcohol consumption with significant sex differences.\n  Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41672385/\n- **PMID 41824560 (2026, Science advances)** — Immunity to hemagglutinin and neuraminidase results in additive reductions in airborne transmission of influenza H1N1 virus in ferrets.. Abstract (opening): Currently, there is limited knowledge on the impact of immunity to hemagglutinin (HA) and/or neuraminidase (NA) on the transmission of influenza viruses. Therefore, using intramuscular vaccination, intranasal vaccination, or infection with reassortant viruses, we induced immunity to each antigen alone or both antigens combined in ferrets. We then assessed transmission of the 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus from these ferrets to naïve respiratory contacts. For all strategies used to induce immunity, combined immunity to HA and NA resulted in the largest reductions in transmission. Moreover, immunity to HA and NA conferred additive rather than synergistic reductions in transmission. No escape variants emerged in our transmission studies, and logistical regression showed that the probability of transmission was less than 50% when viral titers in donors were reduced to 10<sup>1.5</sup> and 10<sup>2</sup> median tissue culture infectious dose per ml on days 1 and 3 postinfection, respectively. These studies define the relationship between immunity to HA and NA on transmission and identify a threshold titer indicative of decreased transmission in ferrets.\n  Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41824560/\n- **PMID 41337862 (2026, Aquatic toxicology (Amsterdam, Netherlands))** — Marine and freshwater mussels as biomonitors for microplastic concentrations: A comparative laboratory study.. Abstract (opening): Microplastics are pervasive in both freshwater and marine waters, posing potential hazards to a wide range of species. Evaluating environmental microplastic pollution is crucial for ecological risk assessment. However, current monitoring methods, such as sampling nets, are inefficient for quantifying small microplastics (< 25 µm) and non-buoyant particles, leading to potential underestimation of pollution levels. Biomonitors, like suspension-feeding organisms, can serve as complementary tools. This study takes a first step in evaluating bivalves as biomonitors by assessing whether microplastic uptake in their tissues correlates with environmental concentrations in both marine and freshwater conditions. Two mussel models, the marine Mytilus galloprovincialis and the freshwater Dreissena spp., were exposed to varying concentrations of microplastics (from 0 to 2000 MPs.L<sup>-1</sup>) over 48 h. Both marine and freshwater mussels followed a linear model for MP uptake. However, an exponential model appeared more suitable for M. galloprovincialis whereas a Gaussian model better described the uptake pattern in Dreissena spp., suggesting the presence of a threshold in MP capture for the latter species. Microplastics primarily accumulated in the digestive gland compared to other tissues (i.e., byssus, gills, mantle, and others). After 48 h of depuration, marine mussels exhibited a high microplastic depuration rate (from 88 to 97%), while freshwater mussels showed moderate depuration ability (from 0 to 71%). These results support M. galloprovincialis as an effective biomonitor for marine microplastic pollution. In freshwaters, the non-linear accumulation of microplastics by Dreissena spp. limits their suitability for precise pollution assessment, but may help set pollution alert levels based on MP content and sub-lethal effects. This study contributes to addressing the challenge of accurate MP quantification in aquatic environments by highlighting the potential of bioindicators in complementing traditional methods.\n  Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41337862/\n- **PMID 41587307 (2026, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America)** — Mammals that can develop type 2 diabetes have a similarly structured β-sheet amyloid oligomer.. Abstract (opening): Some mammals develop amyloid plaques and type 2 diabetes, much like humans, depending on the sequence of their islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP). In humans, IAPP forms a toxic oligomer with a parallel β-sheet across residues <sup>23</sup>FGAIL<sup>28</sup>S. Using two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy, we monitor the structure of IAPP from seven different mammals, five of which are from species that can develop type 2 diabetes (ferret, raccoon, cat, baboon, and human) and three from those that do not (hamster, rat, and pig). G24 is isotope labeled to monitor for the presence of the oligomeric β-sheet previously found in human IAPP. For the species that develop type 2 diabetes, their IAPP is cytotoxic, and a β-sheet at G24 is observed during the lag phase prior to fibril formation. In contrast, the species that do not develop type 2 diabetes have nontoxic IAPP, and their IAPP does not form this β-sheet structure. Pig IAPP forms oligomers, but with a different structure that is nontoxic. Thus, an oligomer with a parallel β-sheet at G24 that resembles that of the known human IAPP oligomer correlates with cytotoxicity and propensity for type 2 diabetes. These results indicate that the sequence within the 20 to 29 region of human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP), long known to correlate with type 2 diabetes in mammals, determines the structure and toxicity of an oligomer, supporting the oligomer hypothesis for type 2 diabetes and providing an explanation other than plaque formation for why some mammals develop insulin deficiency in late-stage type 2 diabetes, and others do not.\n  Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41587307/\n- **PMID 42380600 (2026, Gene therapy)** — Improving the precision of AAV lung gene therapy for SP-B deficiency using computationally derived lung-specific promoters.. Abstract (opening): Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) platforms have achieved significant success in clinical gene therapy; however, many still rely on ubiquitous promoters. This robust and widespread transgene expression can cause off-target effects, immune activation, and systemic toxicity, limiting their suitability for diseases requiring tissue-specific expression, such as surfactant protein B (SP-B) deficiency. Here, we aimed to improve the precision of AAV-lung gene therapy by evaluating computationally predicted lung-specific promoters with AAV6.2FF, a capsid with strong lung tropism. Promoter strength and specificity were assessed following administration of AAV6.2FF encoding the human placental alkaline phosphatase (AP) reporter gene in mice. Cross-species activity was evaluated in precision-cut lung slices (PCLS) from ferrets and pigs. We identified promoter 5979 as lung-specific in mice, outperforming the ubiquitous CASI promoter (comprised of the cytomegalovirus enhancer, chicken β-actin promoter, and ubiquitin C regulatory elements) in transgene expression and specificity, independent of AAV capsid or route of administration. In a conditional SP-B knockout model, AAV6.2FF-5979-hSPB extended survival in SP-B-deficient mice and outperformed its CASI-driven counterpart. Promoter 5979 exhibited the highest activity among the four synthetic promoters in ferret PCLS, but demonstrated limited activity in pig PCLS, underscoring species-specific differences. This study demonstrates the therapeutic value of tissue-specific promoters in targeted gene therapy while emphasizing the importance of refining algorithmic prediction platforms to ensure reliable cross-species and clinical performance.\n  Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42380600/\n\nSource text: `pdf-raw/evidence/europepmc_ferret_toxicology_2026-08-01.txt` (Europe PMC first-hand abstracts, pulled 2026-08-01).\n","sources":["Europe PMC — Evidence cluster — Ferret (Mustela putorius furo) toxicology (peer-reviewed, Europe PMC) (retrieved 2026-08-01)"],"source":{"authority":"Europe PMC","title":"Evidence cluster — Ferret (Mustela putorius furo) toxicology (peer-reviewed, Europe PMC)","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42265938/","retrieved":"2026-08-01","ref":"PMID 42265938","doc_type":"official PDF","source_document":"Peer-reviewed Ferret toxicology literature (Europe PMC, first-hand abstracts)","verification_file":"pdf-raw/evidence/europepmc_ferret_toxicology_2026-08-01.txt"},"source_document":"Peer-reviewed Ferret toxicology literature (Europe PMC, first-hand abstracts)","source_file":"pdf-raw/evidence/europepmc_ferret_toxicology_2026-08-01.txt","tokens_estimated":600,"generated_at":null,"tip":"Use /api/v1/topics to discover more topics. /api/v1/nutrient for precise single-point queries. /api/v1/cross_compare for 2-3 standard comparisons."}