Environmentally relevant concentrations of arsenite induces developmental toxicity and oxidative responses in the early life stage of zebrafish.

Arsenic (As) present in water is a nonignorable environmental issue, even at low concentrations (≤150 μg L). To evaluate the toxic effect of low concentrations of As, zebrafish at early life stage were exposed to 0, 25, 50, 75, or 150 μg L AsIII for 120 h. Our results indicated that low concentration of AsIII decreased zebrafish larvae's survival rate to 85%, 89% and 86% at 50, 75 and 150 μg L. Furthermore, low concentrations of AsIII exposure caused oxidative stress (elevated superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and influenced the mRNA transcriptional levels of Cu/ZnSOD and MnSOD) and damage (increased malondialdehyde levels). Meanwhile, zebrafish larvae regulated the mRNA transcription of metallothionein and heat shock protein 70 to alleviate toxicity caused by AsIII. These results revealed lower concentrations (≤150 μg L) of AsIII had a detriment effect on the survival of fish at early life stage, moreover, oxidative stress caused by AsIII posed potential risk for the zebrafish. This study provides novel insight into low concentration AsIII-induced toxicity in zebrafish.