Abellán-Álvaro Maria, Forner-Piquer Isabel, Chousidis Ieremias, Godden Elliott, García-Deante Alba, Marchi Nicola, Brennan Caroline H, Torres-Pérez Jose V
Department of Cellular Biology, Functional Biology and Physical Anthropology, University of Valencia, Burjassot, 46100, Valencia, Spain.
Unitat Predepartamental de Medicina, Universitat Jaume I, Castelló, Spain.
Arch Toxicol. 2025 Aug 25. doi: 10.1007/s00204-025-04129-6.
The widespread use of pesticides is increasing the presence of environmental contaminants with potential impacts on biodiversity, ecosystems, and human health. Although long-term pesticide effects have been previously studied, the long-term impact of an acute pesticide exposure during critical early developmental periods remains poorly understood. Here, we used zebrafish to examine whether acute exposure to a pesticide mixture at 0.5 μg/L (the maximum allowed in drinking water) during the first 5 days post-fertilisation (dpf) of development has lasting effects at 28 dpf. Zebrafish were assessed behaviourally, morphologically, and molecularly both immediately after exposure at 5 dpf and later at 28 dpf. Our results show alterations in stress-response that start to emerge right after the developmental exposure and are associated with a less anxious-like phenotype at juvenile stages. Interestingly, despite the observed behavioural phenotype at 28 dpf, it did not lead to significant molecular changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-interrenal (HPI) axis at this stage. On the contrary, a positive control group of juvenile fish subjected to a sustained pesticide exposure throughout the 28 dpf showed both reduced anxiety-like behaviour and HPI alterations. Our study suggests that even an acute exposure to a low-concentration of pesticides during critical developmental periods can result in enduring behavioural changes.
农药的广泛使用正在增加环境污染物的存在，这可能对生物多样性、生态系统和人类健康产生影响。尽管此前已经研究了农药的长期影响，但在关键的早期发育阶段急性接触农药的长期影响仍知之甚少。在这里，我们使用斑马鱼来研究在发育的受精后前5天（dpf）急性暴露于0.5μg/L（饮用水中允许的最大浓度）的农药混合物是否在28 dpf时具有持久影响。在5 dpf暴露后立即以及之后在28 dpf对斑马鱼进行行为、形态和分子评估。我们的结果表明，应激反应的改变在发育暴露后立即开始出现，并与幼鱼阶段焦虑样表型的减少有关。有趣的是，尽管在28 dpf观察到行为表型，但在此阶段它并未导致下丘脑-垂体-肾间（HPI）轴发生显著分子变化。相反，在整个28 dpf持续暴露于农药的幼鱼阳性对照组显示出焦虑样行为减少和HPI改变。我们的研究表明，即使在关键发育阶段急性暴露于低浓度农药也可能导致持久的行为变化。
