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Mechanism of TiO 2 nanoparticle‐induced neurotoxicity in zebrafish ( D anio rerio )
Author(s) -
Sheng Lei,
Wang Ling,
Su Mingyu,
Zhao Xiaoyang,
Hu Renping,
Yu Xiaohong,
Hong Jie,
Liu Dong,
Xu Bingqing,
Zhu Yunting,
Wang Han,
Hong Fashui
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
environmental toxicology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.813
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1522-7278
pISSN - 1520-4081
DOI - 10.1002/tox.22031
Subject(s) - zebrafish , neurotoxicity , danio , neurochemical , creb , toxicity , chemistry , pharmacology , apoptosis , dopamine , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , toxicology , biochemistry , neuroscience , gene , transcription factor , organic chemistry
Zebrafish ( Danio rerio ) has been used historically for evaluating the toxicity of environmental and aqueous toxicants, and there is an emerging literature reporting toxic effects of manufactured nanoparticles (NPs) in zebrafish embryos. Few researches, however, are focused on the neurotoxicity on adult zebrafish after subchronic exposure to TiO 2 NPs. This study was designed to evaluate the morphological changes, alterations of neurochemical contents, and expressions of memory behavior‐related genes in zebrafish brains caused by exposures to 5, 10, 20, and 40 μg/L TiO 2 NPs for 45 consecutive days. Our data indicated that spatial recognition memory and levels of norepinephrine, dopamine, and 5‐hydroxytryptamine were significantly decreased and NO levels were markedly elevated, and over proliferation of glial cells, neuron apoptosis, and TiO 2 NP aggregation were observed after low dose exposures of TiO 2 NPs. Furthermore, the low dose exposures of TiO 2 NPs significantly activated expressions of C‐fos, C‐jun , and BDNF genes, and suppressed expressions of p38, NGF, CREB, NR1, NR2ab , and GluR2 genes. These findings imply that low dose exposures of TiO 2 NPs may result in the brain damages in zebrafish, provide a developmental basis for evaluating the neurotoxicity of subchronic exposure, and raise the caution of aquatic application of TiO 2 NPs. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 31: 163–175, 2016.