ABSTRACT: Mitochondrial dysfunction, disruption of F-actin polymerization, and transcriptomic alterations in zebrafish larvae exposed to trichloroethylene
Project description:An embryonic atrazine exposure results in reproductive dysfunction in adult zebrafish and morphological alterations in their offspring
Project description:Trichloroethylene (TCE) is primarily used as an industrial degreasing agent and has been in use since the 1940s. TCE is released into the soil, surface, and groundwater. From an environmental and regulatory standpoint more than half of Superfund hazardous waste sites on the National Priority List are contaminated with TCE. Occupational exposure to TCE occurs primarily via inhalation, while environmental TCE exposure also occurs through ingestion of contaminated drinking water. Current literature links TCE exposure to various adverse health effects including cardiovascular toxicity. Current studies aiming to address developmental cardiovascular toxicity utilized rodent and avian models with the majority of studies using relatively higher parts per million (ppm; mg/L) doses. In this study to further investigate developmental cardiotoxicity of TCE, zebrafish embryos were treated with 0, 10, 100, or 500 parts per billion (ppb; μg/L) TCE during embryogenesis and/or through early larval stages. After the appropriate exposure period, angiogenesis, F-actin polymerization, and mitochondrial function were assessed. A significant dose response decrease in angiogenesis, F-actin polymerization, and mitochondrial function was observed. To further complement this data, a transcriptomic profile of zebrafish larvae was completed to identify gene alterations associated with the 10 ppb TCE exposure. Results from the transcriptomic data revealed that an embryonic TCE exposure caused significant changes in genes associated with cardiovascular disease, cancer, and organismal injury and abnormalities with a number of targets in the FAK signaling pathway. Overall, results from our study further support TCE as a developmental cardiovascular toxicant and continued priority for environmental regulation.
Project description:Purpose:To investigate the transcriptomic profiles in zebrafish embryos exposed externally to nucleotides at a critical develpomental window (3-7 days post fertilization) determine biological processes and pathways based on differentially expressed gene transcripts using High Throughput Sequencing (HTS). Methods:Total mRNA profiles of 7 dpf zebraifsh embryos after exposure to 10-5M ATP, AMP, adenosine and adenine were generated by deep sequencing, in triplicate, using Illumina HiSeq2500 Results: There were many differentially expressed genes; including ubiquitin-, actin-, and tubulin-related, showing that the cytoskeleton was altered; other DEGs involved with purine binding, specifically guanine, which was expected as the mixture was composed of purines; DEGs involved with GTP binding were also upregulated, suggesting increased cell signaling,
Project description:Transcriptional profiling performed from total eye RNA extracts of wildtype control fishes versus Prpf31 morpholino injected larvae (at ~72hpf)