Zebrafish as a model to predict effects of multiple environmental stressors: using a multi-biomarker approach

Abstract

Despite the advances in researches on chemicals toxicity, the large amount of multiple stressors into the environmental demands the development of efficient approaches to characterize the toxicological profile of a broad spectrum of chemical classes, regardless of their mechanism of action. The main goal of the present work is to tackle this gap and develop a battery of infraindividual biomarkers for the evaluation of multiple chemicals, assessing global responses of Zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos that reflects the status of environmental and human health. The selected biomarkers include detoxification and oxidative stress-related (glutathione stransferase, total glutathione, catalase, lipid peroxidation), energy budget-related (total energy reserves, total energy consumption, cellular energy allocation), in addition to the biomarker of genotoxicity (comet assay), based on the potential of multiple chemicals to modulate detoxification and oxidative stress responses that are energetically costly. The efficiency of this approach will be evaluated using two types of environmental stressors with a wide range of mechanism of action: pesticides and dyes. The methodology also include a simple math calculation to quantify the efficiency and sensibility of the approach compared to the conventional LC50. Together, these biomarkers of high-throughput, high-sensitivity and lowcost will allow a good early warning indication of the general health status of the organisms in relation to chemical exposure and its effects, useful for chemicals risk assessment and for environmental monitoring, suitable to be implemented in researches labs and in mitigation plans to prevent the environmental and human health disturbances. (AU)