Abstract
Contaminants of emerging concern have been increasingly associated with the modulation of the epigenome, leading to potentially inherited and persistent impacts on apical endpoints. Here, we address the performance of the OECD Test No. 236 FET (fish embryo acute toxicity) in the identification of chemicals able to modulate the epigenome. Using zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos, acute and chronic exposures were performed with the pharmaceutical, simvastatin (SIM), a widely prescribed hypocholesterolemic drug reported to induce inter and transgenerational effects. In the present study, the epigenetic effects of environmentally relevant concentrations of SIM (from 8 ng/L to 2000 ng/L) were addressed following (1) an acute embryo assay based on OECD Test No. 236 FET, (2) a chronic partial life-cycle exposure using adult zebrafish (90 days), and (3) F1 embryos obtained from parental exposed animals. Simvastatin induced significant effects in gene expression of key epigenetic biomarkers (DNA methylation and histone acetylation/deacetylation) in the gonads of exposed adult zebrafish and in 80 hpf zebrafish embryos (acute and chronic parental intergenerational exposure), albeit with distinct effect profiles between biological samples. In the chronic exposure, SIM impacted particularly DNA methyltransferase genes in males and female gonads, whereas in F1 embryos SIM affected mostly genes associated with histone acetylation/deacetylation. In the embryo acute direct exposure, SIM modulated the expression of both genes involved in DNA methylation and histone deacetylase. These findings further support the use of epigenetic biomarkers in zebrafish embryos in a high throughput approach to identify and prioritize epigenome-modulating chemicals.
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Funding
This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the PhD project SFRH/BD/110143/2015. A PhD grant awarded to Susana Barros (PD/BD/143090/2018) was also funded by FCT. This study was funded by COMPETE 2020, Portugal 2020, and the European Union through the ERDF and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology—FCT (Transobesogen project—Trans-phyletic obesogenic responses: from epigenetic modules to transgenerational environmental impacts, reference: PTDC/CTA-AMB/31544/2017-NORTE-01–0145-FEDER-031544). Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia,PTDC/CTA-AMB/31544/2017.
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TT, conceptualization, investigation, data curation, writing—original draft preparation; writing and revising draft. SB, conceptualization, investigation, data curation, writing and revising draft. TN, conceptualization, data curation, writing and revising draft. RR, conceptualization, data curation, writing—original draft preparation; writing and revising draft, supervision. MS, conceptualization, data curation, writing—original draft preparation; writing and revising draft, supervision, funding acquisition, project administration.
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Authors: Tiago Torres, Susana Barros, Teresa Neuparth, Raquel Ruivo—CIMAR/CIIMAR—Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Group of Endocrine Disruptors and Emerging Contaminants, Avenida General Norton de Matos, S/N, 4450–208 Matosinhos | Portugal.
Miguel Santos: FCUP – Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 4169–007 Porto, Portugal.
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Authors: Tiago Torres, Susana Barros, Teresa Neuparth, Raquel Ruivo—CIMAR/CIIMAR—Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto, Group of Endocrine Disruptors and Emerging Contaminants, Avenida General Norton de Matos, S/N, 4450–208 Matosinhos | Portugal.
Miguel Santos: FCUP – Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 4169–007 Porto, Portugal.
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Torres, T., Barros, S., Neuparth, T. et al. Using zebrafish embryo bioassays to identify chemicals modulating the regulation of the epigenome: a case study with simvastatin. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 22913–22928 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23683-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23683-5