Faculty of Bioscience and Agro-Food and Environmental Technology, University of Teramo, Teramo, Italy.
Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
J Appl Toxicol. 2021 Nov;41(11):1852-1862. doi: 10.1002/jat.4171. Epub 2021 Apr 7.
Parabens are classified as endocrine disrupting chemicals due to their ability to activate several nuclear receptors causing changes in hormones-dependent signalling pathways. Central nervous system of developing organisms is particularly vulnerable to changes in hormonal pathways, which could lead to altered brain function, abnormal behaviour and even diseases later in life. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of exposure to butylparaben (BuP), ethylparaben (EtP) and methylparaben (MeP) during early development on nervous system using zebrafish larvae's behavioural models. Zebrafish were exposed until 4 days post fertilization (dpf) to three concentrations of each paraben chosen considering the environmentally realistic concentrations of human exposure and the benchmark-dose lower bound calculated for zebrafish larvae (BuP: 5, 50 and 500 μg/L; EtP: 50, 500 and 5000 μg/L; MeP: 100, 1000 and 10,000 μg/L). Activity in novel and in familiar environment, thigmotaxis, visual startle response and photic synchronization of the behavioural circadian rhythms were analysed at 4, 5 and 6 dpf. Zebrafish larvae exposed to BuP 500 μg/L and EtP 5000 μg/L revealed increased anxiety-like behaviour in novel environment. Larvae treated with 500 μg/L of BuP showed reduced activity in familiar and marginally in unfamiliar environment, and larvae exposed to 5000 μg/L of EtP exhibited hyperactivity in familiar environment. Parabens exposure did not influence the visual startle response and the photic synchronization of circadian rhythms in zebrafish larvae. This research highlighted as the exposure to parabens has the potential to interfere with behavioural development of zebrafish.
对羟基苯甲酸酯因其能够激活多种核受体，从而改变依赖激素的信号通路，被归类为内分泌干扰化学物质。发育中生物体的中枢神经系统特别容易受到激素途径变化的影响，这可能导致大脑功能改变、行为异常，甚至在以后的生活中出现疾病。本研究旨在使用斑马鱼幼虫的行为模型，研究早期暴露于丁基对羟基苯甲酸酯（BuP）、乙基对羟基苯甲酸酯（EtP）和甲基对羟基苯甲酸酯（MeP）对神经系统的影响。考虑到人类暴露的实际浓度和为斑马鱼幼虫计算的基准剂量下限，斑马鱼从受精后 4 天（dpf）开始暴露于三种浓度的每种对羟基苯甲酸酯中（BuP：5、50 和 500μg/L；EtP：50、500 和 5000μg/L；MeP：100、1000 和 10000μg/L）。在 4、5 和 6 dpf 时分析了新环境和熟悉环境中的活动、触壁反应、视觉惊跳反应和行为昼夜节律的光同步。暴露于 500μg/L BuP 和 5000μg/L EtP 的斑马鱼幼虫在新环境中表现出焦虑样行为增加。用 500μg/L BuP 处理的幼虫在熟悉和边缘陌生环境中的活动减少，而暴露于 5000μg/L EtP 的幼虫在熟悉环境中表现出过度活跃。对羟基苯甲酸酯暴露并未影响斑马鱼幼虫的视觉惊跳反应和昼夜节律的光同步。这项研究强调了对羟基苯甲酸酯的暴露有可能干扰斑马鱼的行为发育。
