Department of Biological Sciences, California State University Chico, Chico, CA, United States of America.
Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, California State University Chico, Chico, CA, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2022 Mar 25;17(3):e0265618. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265618. eCollection 2022.
In November 2018, the Camp Fire devastated the mountain community of Paradise, CA. The burning of plastic pipes, wiring, construction materials, paint, and car batteries released toxic chemicals into the environment, contaminating the air, soil, and local waterways. Examples of toxins that were identified in the creeks and waterways in and around Paradise included pentachlorophenol (PCP), chrysene, and polyaromatic hydrocarbons. The effects of some of these chemicals on embryonic development, hematopoiesis (blood formation), and the immune system have not been thoroughly studied. Defining safe levels and the long-term effects of exposure is imperative to understanding and mitigating potential negative future outcomes. To perform these studies, we utilized zebrafish (Danio rerio), a commonly used vertebrate model system to study development. We observed the adverse effects of PCP on the development of zebrafish by using fluorescence microscopy, and saw that increased concentrations of PCP decreased the numbers of normal red blood cells and myeloid cells. Additionally, we observed that animal survival decreased in response to increasing concentrations of PCP. Furthermore, the prevalence of characteristic physical deformities such as tail curvature were greater in the treatment groups. Lastly, runx1, cmyb, and cd41 expression was reduced in fish treated with PCP. These results suggest that PCP has a previously underappreciated effect on blood and immune cell development and future studies should be performed to determine the molecular mechanisms involved.
2018 年 11 月，营火山火摧毁了加利福尼亚州天堂山的山区社区。燃烧的塑料管、电线、建筑材料、油漆和汽车电池将有毒化学物质释放到环境中，污染了空气、土壤和当地的水道。在天堂山及其周围的溪流和水道中发现的毒素包括五氯苯酚（PCP）、䓛和多环芳烃。其中一些化学物质对胚胎发育、造血（血液形成）和免疫系统的影响尚未得到深入研究。确定安全水平和暴露的长期影响对于了解和减轻潜在的负面未来后果至关重要。为了进行这些研究，我们利用斑马鱼（Danio rerio），一种常用的脊椎动物模型系统来研究发育。我们通过荧光显微镜观察到 PCP 对斑马鱼发育的不良影响，发现 PCP 浓度的增加会减少正常红细胞和髓样细胞的数量。此外，我们观察到动物的存活率随着 PCP 浓度的增加而降低。此外，在处理组中，特征性身体畸形如尾巴弯曲的患病率更高。最后，在接受 PCP 处理的鱼类中，runx1、cmyb 和 cd41 的表达减少。这些结果表明 PCP 对血液和免疫细胞发育有以前被低估的影响，未来的研究应该进行，以确定所涉及的分子机制。
