Exposure to pyrimethanil induces developmental toxicity and cardiotoxicity in zebrafish. (September 2020) - Meng, Yunlong
Abstract: Pyrimethanil is a broad-spectrum fungicide commonly used in the prevention and treatment of Botrytis cinerea . However, little information is available in the literature to show the toxicity of Pyrimethanil to cardiac development. In this study, we used an experimental animal model to explore the developmental and cardiac toxicity of Pyrimethanil in aquatic vertebrates; we exposed zebrafish embryos to Pyrimethanil at concentrations of 2, 4, and 6 mg/L from 5.5 to 72 h post fertilisation. We found that Pyrimethanil caused a decrease in the hatching rate, heart rate, and survival rate of zebrafish embryos. Pyrimethanil exposure also resulted in pericardial and yolk sac edema, spinal deformity, and heart loop failure. Moreover, Pyrimethanil increased reactive oxygen stress levels and heightened the activity of superoxide dismutase and catalase. Alterations were induced in the transcription of apoptosis-related genes ( p53, Bax, Bcl2, Casp 9, and Casp6l1 ) and heart development-related genes ( Tbx2b, Gata4, Myh6, Vmhc, Nppa, Bmp2b, Bpm 4, and Bpm 10 ). Our data showed that the activation of Wnt signalling by BML-284 could partially rescue the malformed phenotype caused by Pyrimethanil. Our results provide new evidence for Pyrimethanil's toxicity and the danger of its residues in the environment and agricultural products. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: Pyrimethanil can reduce early embryo survival rate, heart rate, and cause pericardial edema. Pyrimethanil can cause pericardial edema, yolk sac edema, spinal deformity, the heart to loop failure. Pyrimethanil can increase the ROS content, and induced alterations in transcription levels of apoptosis related genes. Bml-284 (agonist of Wnt signaling pathway) could partially rescue the malformed phenotype by Pyrimethanil.