Probiotic Administration Mitigates Bisphenol A Reproductive Toxicity in Zebrafish

Abstract

Although the use of bisphenol A (BPA) has been banned in a number of countries, its presence in the environment still creates health issues both for humans and wildlife. So far, BPA toxicity has been largely investigated on different biological processes, from reproduction to development, immune system, and metabolism. In zebrafish, Danio rerio, previous studies revealed the ability of environmentally relevant concentrations of this contaminant to significantly impair fertility via epigenetic modification. In addition, several studies demonstrated the ability of different probiotic strains to improve organism health. This study provides information on the role of the probiotic mixture SLAb51 to counteract adverse BPA effects on reproduction. A 28-day trial was set up with different experimental groups: BPA, exposed to 10 µg/L BPA; P, receiving a dietary supplementation of SLAb51 at a final concentration of 109 CFU/g; BPA+P exposed to 10 µg/L BPA and receiving SLAb51 at a final concentration of 109 CFU/g and a C group. Since oocyte growth and maturation represent key aspects for fertility in females, studies were performed on isolated class III (vitellogenic) and IV (in maturation) follicles and liver, with emphasis on the modulation of the different vitellogenin isoforms. In males, key signals regulating spermatogenesis were investigated. Results demonstrated that in fish exposed to the combination of BPA and probiotic, most of the transcripts were closer to C or P levels, supporting the hypothesis of SLAb51 to antagonize BPA toxicity. This study represents the first evidence related to the use of SLAb51 to improve reproduction and open new fields of investigation regarding its use to reduce endocrine disrupting compound impacts on health.

Metabolomic and Transcript Analysis Revealed a Sex-Specific Effect of Glyphosate in Zebrafish Liver

“…Extraction of total RNA was performed from five female and five male livers for CTRL and GLY experimental groups, using the RNAeasy ® Minikit (Qiagen, Milano, Italy) following the manufacturer’s instructions, and eluted in RNase-free water at a final volume of 50 µL. RNA quality evaluation and cDNA synthesis were assessed as previously described [ 44 ] and are here briefly reported. RNA concentration was determined using a NanophotometerTMP-Class (Implen GmbH, Munich, Germany), and 28S and 18S ribosomal RNA was stained using ethidium bromide on 1% agarose gel to determine RNA integrity.…”

“…In order to perform qRT-PCRs, a CFX thermal cycler was used with SYBR green, as described in [ 44 ], and ribosomal protein 13 ( rpl13 ) and ribosomal protein 0 ( rplp0 ) mRNAs were used as internal standards in each sample to standardize the results and eliminate variation in mRNA and cDNA quantity and quality. Table 4 reports primer sequences, GenBank accession numbers, and primer efficiency of the examined genes.…”

Zebrafish: an efficient vertebrate model for understanding role of gut microbiota

“…Valcarce et al confirm that the Pediococcus acidilactici can be used as a probiotic supplement in the male zebrafish diet to improve reproductive performance (Valcarce et al 1887 ). Besides, administration of a commercial probiotic mixture SLAb51 can counteract the adverse effects of BPA on zebrafish reproduction by interacting with gametogenesis-related genes (Giommi et al 2021 ). In other studies, the central role of gut microbiota in affecting reproductive efficiency has been demonstrated in mammals (Hussain et al 2021 ).…”

A zebrafish HCT116 xenograft model to predict anandamide outcomes on colorectal cancer

“…The reverse transcription was conducted from 1 μg total RNA with High-Capacity cDNA Reverse Transcription Kit (Applied Biosystems, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA). The qRT-PCRs were performed with the SYBR green method in a CFX thermal cycler (Bio-rad, Milan, Italy) as previously described [80]. For each experimental group, replicates (N = 5) were run in duplicate.…”