Detection of exposure effects of mixtures of heavy polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in zebrafish embryos

Abstract

In this study we evaluated the exposure effects of mixtures of five polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs); namely, benzo[a]anthracene, benzo[a]pyrene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene and chrysene on zebrafish embryos. Supplementation of the exposure media with 0.45% dimethyl sulfoxide and 50 ppm of Tween 20 could guarantee the solubilization and stabilization of the PAHs up to 24 h without affecting the embryos development. The exposure effects were tested by detecting the differential expression of a number of genes related to the aryl hydrocarbon receptor gene battery. Effects were detectable already after 6 h of exposure. After 24 h of exposure, all PAHs, except for benzo[a]anthracene, acted as potent inducers of the gene cyp1a1. Benzo[k]fluoranthene was the major inducer; the effect caused by the mixture at the lower concentration tested (1 ng ml ) was dominated by its presence. However, in the mixture at the highest concentration tested (10 ng ml ) it caused less induction and was not dominant. No significant bioaccumulation values were detected on embryos exposed to the PAHs tested in this study; however, the results obtained, indicated that PAHs undergo a very rapid metabolization inside the embryos, and that those biotransformation products yield changes on the expression of genes involved in the aryl hydrocarbon receptor pathway. Future work should focus on identification of the PAH metabolization products and on the effect of these metabolites on toxicity. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Transcriptomic and phenotypic profiling in developing zebrafish exposed to thyroid hormone receptor agonists

“…Zebrafish have already been used to examine the developmental and neurobehavioral toxicity of the chemicals in ToxCast phase I and II libraries [25, 27, 35]. Similarly, other studies have screened flame retardants [36–38], polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) [39], phytoestrogens [40], chemicals that disrupt cardiovascular function [41], nanomaterials [42, 43], inflammatory compounds [44], as well as high-throughput neurobehavioral screening to identify chemicals with therapeutic potential as psychoactive drugs [45, 46].…”

“…However, coupling HTS with transcriptomics can offer a two-tiered approach to categorize chemicals based on developmental bioactivity profiles and transcriptional changes likely associated with a chemical’s MOA. Within the context of the zebrafish model, transcriptomics has been used to identify putative MOAs and classify biological activities for a variety of chemicals including PAHs [51, 52], antimicrobials [53], heavy metals, [39] endocrine disrupting compounds [50, 54, 55], and others [56].…”

Use of new approach methodologies to study the developmental toxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

“…Alkylated PAHs account for a large proportion of the total PAHs present in crude oil and partially refined petroleum products . Many studies have correlated the presence of PAHs, including alkylated PAHs, to the developmental toxicity of petroleum substances and PAH-containing mixtures (Barranco et al, 2017;Billiard et al, 2008;Incardona, 2017;Le Bihanic et al, 2014b, 2014a. It was also suggested for some alkylated PAHs that they are more developmentally toxic than their corresponding parent PAHs (Geier et al, 2018;.…”