Dubiel Justin, Mertens Emily, Boyte Vann, Eagon Lauren, Vitharana Nipuni, Gao Xinyu, Hartmann Hannah, Terrazas-Salgado Luis, Xia Zhe, Tomy Gregg, Wiseman Steve, Doering Jon A
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta T1K 3M4, Canada.
Department of Environmental Sciences, College of the Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, United States.
Environ Sci Technol. 2025 Jul 22;59(28):14347-14358. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.5c06803. Epub 2025 Jul 11.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are known to adversely affect fish through activation of aryl hydrocarbon receptor 2 (AhR). Most studies have focused on 16 priority PAHs, but chlorinated and brominated PAHs are more potent than the parent PAHs in studies using mammalian AhRs. Despite being detected in fish species , no studies have examined their toxicity. The present study investigated the effect of positioning and degree of chlorination and bromination on potency relative to an unsubstituted PAH for in vitro activation of zebrafish () AhR2 and potency for zebrafish early life-stage mortality. Anthracene did not activate the AhR2, but chlorination and bromination strongly affected potency in a position-dependent manner. Seven of 11 halogenated PAHs activated the AhR2 with potency generally increasing with number of substitutions. Bromination had a larger effect on potency than chlorination. Potency for early life-stage toxicity followed the same rank order as that for AhR2 activation. The domain of applicability of an existing cross-species predictive framework was expanded to include halogenated PAHs, representing a significant advancement in risk assessment with immediate utility. Due to their potency and occurrence in the environment, there is a need to objectively assess the risks posed by this class of chemicals.
多环芳烃（PAHs）已知可通过激活芳烃受体2（AhR）对鱼类产生不利影响。大多数研究集中在16种优先PAHs上，但在使用哺乳动物AhRs的研究中，氯化和溴化PAHs比母体PAHs更具活性。尽管在鱼类中已检测到它们，但尚无研究考察其毒性。本研究调查了相对于未取代的PAH，氯代和溴代的位置及程度对斑马鱼（）AhR2体外激活效力以及斑马鱼早期生命阶段死亡率效力的影响。蒽不会激活AhR2，但氯化和溴化以位置依赖的方式强烈影响效力。11种卤代PAHs中有7种激活了AhR2，效力通常随取代数增加而增强。溴化对效力的影响比氯化更大。早期生命阶段毒性的效力与AhR2激活的效力具有相同的排序。现有的跨物种预测框架的适用范围得以扩展，纳入了卤代PAHs，这代表了风险评估方面的重大进展，具有直接实用性。由于它们的活性及其在环境中的存在，有必要客观评估这类化学品所带来的风险。
