PUBLICATION
Exposure of zebrafish to environmentally relevant concentrations of mercury during early life stages impairs subsequent reproduction in adults but can be recovered in offspring
- Authors
- Xie, D., Chen, Q., Gong, S., An, J., Li, Y., Lian, X., Liu, Z., Shen, Y., Giesy, J.P.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-201027-2
- Date
- 2020
- Source
- Aquatic toxicology (Amsterdam, Netherlands) 229: 105655 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Keywords
- Development, Embryo, Fecundity, HPG-axis, Histology
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Female
- Fertility/drug effects
- Gonadal Steroid Hormones/blood
- Gonads/drug effects
- Life Cycle Stages/drug effects*
- Male
- Mercury/toxicity*
- Oogenesis/drug effects
- Pregnancy
- Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects/pathology*
- RNA, Messenger/genetics
- RNA, Messenger/metabolism
- Reproduction/drug effects*
- Spermatogenesis/drug effects
- Water Pollutants, Chemical/toxicity*
- Zebrafish/blood
- Zebrafish/growth & development*
- Zebrafish/physiology*
- PubMed
- 33099036 Full text @ Aquat. Toxicol.
Citation
Xie, D., Chen, Q., Gong, S., An, J., Li, Y., Lian, X., Liu, Z., Shen, Y., Giesy, J.P. (2020) Exposure of zebrafish to environmentally relevant concentrations of mercury during early life stages impairs subsequent reproduction in adults but can be recovered in offspring. Aquatic toxicology (Amsterdam, Netherlands). 229:105655.
Abstract
Mercury (Hg) is a global pollutant that poses potential threats to health of fishes. Although effects of Hg on reproduction of fishes have been documented, little is known about effects of exposure to Hg2+ during early life stages on subsequent reproductive fitness of adults or whether these effects can be transferred to offspring. In this study, zebrafish embryos were exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations of Hg2+ (0.6, 3 or 15 μg/L) for 5 days and then depurated in clean water for another 115 days. Exposure to Hg2+ during early life stages disturbed the balance of sex hormones and gametogenesis by altering expression of mRNA for genes involved in the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, which resulted in delayed gonadal development and lesser gonado-somatic index, thereby resulting in lesser fecundity. A similar, but less pronounced effect was observed in F1 females that were not exposed directly to Hg, whereas such damage was neither observed in F1 males nor either sex during the F2 generation. Exposure to Hg2+ during early life can impair subsequent reproduction in adults and has intergenerational effects on F1 females, but this reproductive damage can be recovered in F1 males and in F2 females.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping