Methylnitrosourea, dimethylbenzanthracene and benzoapyrene differentially affect redox pathways, apoptosis and immunity in zebrafish

Abstract

Cancer continues to be a major cause of mortality globally. Zebrafish present suitable models for studying the mechanisms of genotoxic carcinogens. The aim of this study was to investigate the interaction between oxidant–antioxidant status, apoptosis and immunity in zebrafish that were exposed to three different genotoxic carcinogens methylnitrosourea, dimethylbenzanthracene, benzoapyrene and methylnitrosourea + dimethylbenzanthracene starting from early embryogenesis for 30 days. Lipid peroxidation, nitric oxide levels, superoxide dismutase and glutathione- S-transferase activities and mRNA levels of apoptosis genes p53, bax, casp3a, casp2 and immunity genes fas, tnfα and ifnγ1 were evaluated. The disruption of the oxidant–antioxidant balance accompanied by altered expressions of apoptotic and immunity related genes were observed in different levels according to the carcinogen applied. Noteworthy, ifnγ expressions decreased in all carcinogen-exposed groups. Our results will provide basic data for further carcinogenesis research in zebrafish models.

Immunotoxicity of Xenobiotics in Fish: A Role for the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor (AhR)?

“…In vivo as well as in vitro studies reported that HAH or PAH exposure of fish or fish immune cells results in altered expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines like IL-1β, TNFα, IL-6, IL-8, or IFNγ [150,155,[169][170][171][172][173]. Additionally, global transcriptomic studies corroborate that exposure to AhR ligands modulates immune gene expression of fish [170,[174][175][176].…”