PUBLICATION

Effects of phenanthrene exposure on cholesterol homeostasis and cardiotoxicity in zebrafish embryos

Authors
McGruer, V., Tanabe, P., Vliet, S.M.F., Dasgupta, S., Qian, L., Volz, D.C., Schlenk, D.
ID
ZDB-PUB-210202-21
Date
2021
Source
Environmental toxicology and chemistry   40(6): 1586-1595 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Keywords
Aquatic Toxicology, Developmental Toxicity, Oil Spills, Phenanthrene, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), Toxicity Mechanisms
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Cardiotoxicity/metabolism
  • Cholesterol/metabolism
  • Cholesterol/pharmacology
  • Ecosystem
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian
  • Homeostasis
  • Phenanthrenes*/metabolism
  • Phenanthrenes*/toxicity
  • Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons*/toxicity
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical*/metabolism
  • Zebrafish
PubMed
33523501 Full text @ Environ. Toxicol. Chem.
Abstract
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are pervasive pollutants in aquatic ecosystems and developing fish embryos are especially sensitive to PAH exposure. Exposure to crude oil or phenanthrene (a reference PAH found in oil) produces an array of gross morphological abnormalities in developing fish embryos, including cardiotoxicity. Recently, studies utilizing transcriptomic analyses in several oil-exposed fish embryos found significant changes in the abundance of transcripts involved in cholesterol biosynthesis. Given the vital role of cholesterol availability in embryonic heart development, we hypothesized that cholesterol dysregulation in early development contributes to phenanthrene-induced cardiotoxicity. Within this study, we exposed zebrafish embryos to 12 or 15 µM phenanthrene from 6 to 72 h post-fertilization (hpf) and demonstrated that, in conjunction with pericardial edema and bradycardia, several genes (fdft1, hmgcra) in the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway were significantly altered. When embryos were pretreated with a cholesterol solution from 6 to 24 hpf followed by exposure to phenanthrene from 24 to 48 hpf, the effects of phenanthrene on heart rate were partially mitigated. Despite changes in gene expression, whole-mount in situ staining of cholesterol was not significantly affected in embryos exposed to phenanthrene ranging in stage from 24 to 72 hpf. However, two-dimensional yolk area was significantly increased with phenanthrene exposure at 72 hpf, suggesting that lipid transport from the yolk to the developing embryo was impaired. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping