Lucon-Xiccato Tyrone, Savaşçı Beste Başak, Merola Carmine, Benedetti Elisabetta, Caioni Giulia, Aliko Valbona, Bertolucci Cristiano, Perugini Monia
Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
Unit of Evolutionary Biology/Systematic Zoology, Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany; Department of Bioscience and Agro-Food and Environmental Technology, University of Teramo, Teramo, Italy.
Sci Total Environ. 2023 Dec 10;903:166717. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166717. Epub 2023 Aug 30.
Many chemicals spilled in aquatic ecosystems can interfere with cognitive abilities and brain functions that control fitness-related behaviour. Hence, their harmful potential may be substantially underestimated. Triclocarban (TCC), one of the most common aquatic contaminants, is known to disrupt hormonal activity, but the consequences of this action on behaviour and its underlying cognitive mechanisms are unclear. We tried to fill this knowledge gap by analysing behaviour, cognitive abilities, and brain gene expression in zebrafish larvae exposed to TCC sublethal concentrations. TCC exposure substantially decreased exploratory behaviour and response to stimulation, while it increased sociability. Additionally, TCC reduced the cognitive performance of zebrafish in a habituation learning task. In the brain of TCC-exposed zebrafish, we found upregulation of c-fos, a gene involved in neural activity, and downregulation of bdnf, a gene that influences behavioural and cognitive traits such as activity, learning, and memory. Overall, our experiments highlight consistent effects of non-lethal TCC concentrations on behaviour, cognitive abilities, and brain functioning in a teleost fish, suggesting critical fitness consequences of these compounds in aquatic ecosystems as well as the potential to affect human health.
许多泄漏到水生生态系统中的化学物质会干扰控制与健康相关行为的认知能力和大脑功能。因此，它们的潜在危害可能被大大低估。三氯生（TCC）是最常见的水生污染物之一，已知会扰乱激素活性，但其对行为及其潜在认知机制的影响尚不清楚。我们试图通过分析暴露于TCC亚致死浓度的斑马鱼幼体的行为、认知能力和大脑基因表达来填补这一知识空白。暴露于TCC会显著降低探索行为和对刺激的反应，同时增加社交性。此外，TCC降低了斑马鱼在习惯化学习任务中的认知表现。在暴露于TCC的斑马鱼大脑中，我们发现参与神经活动的基因c-fos上调，而影响行为和认知特征（如活动、学习和记忆）的基因bdnf下调。总体而言，我们的实验突出了非致死浓度的TCC对硬骨鱼的行为、认知能力和大脑功能的一致影响，表明这些化合物在水生生态系统中对健康有重大影响，也可能影响人类健康。
