Chronic dietary exposure to pyrolytic and petrogenic mixtures of PAHs causes physiological disruption in zebrafish - part I: Survival and growth

Abstract

The release of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) into the environment has increased very substantially over the last decades leading to high concentrations in sediments of contaminated areas. To evaluate the consequences of long-term chronic exposure to PAHs, zebrafish were exposed, from their first meal at 5 days post fertilisation until they became reproducing adults, to diets spiked with three PAH fractions at three environmentally relevant concentrations with the medium concentration being in the range of 4.6-6.7 μg g(-1) for total quantified PAHs including the 16 US-EPA indicator PAHs and alkylated derivatives. The fractions used were representative of PAHs of pyrolytic (PY) origin or of two different oils of differing compositions, a heavy fuel (HO) and a light crude oil (LO). Fish growth was inhibited by all PAH fractions and the effects were sex specific: as determined with 9-month-old adults, exposure to the highest PY inhibited growth of females; exposure to the highest HO and LO inhibited growth of males; also, the highest HO dramatically reduced survival. Morphological analysis indicated a disruption of jaw growth in larvae and malformations in adults. Intestinal and pancreatic enzyme activities were abnormal in 2-month-old exposed fish. These effects may contribute to poor growth. Finally, our results indicate that PAH mixtures of different compositions, representative of situations encountered in the wild, can promote lethal and sublethal effects which are likely to be detrimental for fish recruitment.

Changes in Brain Monoamines Underlie Behavioural Disruptions after Zebrafish Diet Exposure to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Environmental Mixtures

“…The petrogenic mixture (LO) contained low level of HMW PAHs and high level of LMW PAHs. In addition LO contained high proportion of alkylated LMW PAHs [33]. Actual concentrations measured in diet after spiking was 15.3 ± 4.2 µg of PAHs per g of food for PY and 4.1 ± 0.6 µg·g −1 for LO according to concentration of the 16 U.S.-EPA indicator PAHs corresponding to a spiking efficiency of 100% and 56% for PY and LO mixtures respectively (see Supplementary Information 1 for detailed PAHs concentrations).…”

“…Therefore PAHs concentrations in diets effectively corresponded to concentrations measured in flesh of molluscs sampled in contaminated areas [34] underlying the environmental relevance of exposure conditions used. Monitoring of PAH metabolites in larvae sampled at 15 days post fertilisation (dpf), after 10 days of exposure to PY and LO diets, confirmed actual contamination of fish [33]. In addition to PAHs and other organic compounds, Oissel native sediment sampled also contained heavy metals which were not retained in the aromatic fractions [35].…”

“…In this work, we performed long-term chronic dietary exposures of zebrafish to two PAH mixtures [33]. PY aromatic fraction was extracted from Seine estuary sediment and was representative of pyrolytic PAHs while the other aromatic fraction, representative of petrogenic PAH mixtures, was extracted from Light crude oil and named LO.…”

Distribution and Sources of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Aquatic Sediment From Can Gio Coastal Wetland, Hochiminh City

“…Unlike other pollutants already banned or regulated, PAHs continue to be released into the environment due to widespread formation after fossil fuels use in many countries including Vietnam. The major sources of PAHs are anthropogenic activities as incomplete combustion of fossil fuel, leakage during petroleum recovery, transportation and spills [1]. Due to its hydrophobicity so total concentrations of PAHs ranged from 52.3 to 1,870.6 ng/g dry weight have been found in marine sediments in China [2].…”

PAHs and fish—exposure monitoring and adverse effects—from molecular to individual level

“…Exposures were performed at the PEP platform (http://wwz.ifremer.fr/pep) through spiked diets from the first meal and up to more than 1 year. Their effects on survival and growth were monitored throughout the exposure period (Vignet et al 2014c). This article also report that jaw morphology disruptions observed after embryonic waterborne exposure to AhR agonists also occurred when exposure began later in the subjects' development.…”