PUBLICATION
Parental whole life cycle exposure to dietary methylmercury in zebrafish (Danio rerio) affects the behavior of offspring
- Authors
- Mora-Zamorano, F.X., Klingler, R., Murphy, C., Basu, N., Head, J.H., Carvan III, M.J.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-160330-4
- Date
- 2016
- Source
- Environmental science & technology 50(9): 4808-16 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Carvan III, Michael J., Klingler, Rebekah Henderson
- Keywords
- none
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Behavior, Animal/drug effects*
- Diet
- Methylmercury Compounds/pharmacology
- Swimming
- Zebrafish*
- PubMed
- 27023211 Full text @ Env. Sci. Tech.
Citation
Mora-Zamorano, F.X., Klingler, R., Murphy, C., Basu, N., Head, J.H., Carvan III, M.J. (2016) Parental whole life cycle exposure to dietary methylmercury in zebrafish (Danio rerio) affects the behavior of offspring. Environmental science & technology. 50(9):4808-16.
Abstract
Methylmercury (MeHg) is an established neurotoxicant of concern to fish-eating organisms. While most studies have focused on the fish consumers, much less is known about the effects of MeHg on the fish themselves especially following exposures to chronic and environmentally relevant scenarios. Here we evaluated the behavioral effects of developmental MeHg insult by exposing parental generations of zebrafish to environmentally realistic MeHg diets (0, 1, 3 and 10 ppm) throughout their whole life span. Upon reaching adulthood, their offspring were analyzed through a series of behavioral tests, including the visual-motor response (VMR) assay, analysis of spontaneous swimming and evaluation of foraging efficiency. The VMR assay identified decreased locomotor output in the 6 day post-fertilization (dpf) offspring of fish exposed to 3 and 10 ppm MeHg. However, in a second test 7 dpf fish revealed an increase in locomotor activity in all MeHg exposures tested. Increases in locomotion continued to be observed until 16 dpf, which coincided with increased foraging efficiency. These results suggest an association between MeHg and hyperactivity, and imply that fish chronically exposed to MeHg in the wild may be vulnerable to predation.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping