Developmental exposure to a complex PAH mixture causes persistent behavioral effects in naive Fundulus heteroclitus (killifish) but not in a population of PAH-adapted killifish.
Abstract
Acute exposures to some individual polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and complex
PAH mixtures are known to cause cardiac malformations and edema in the developing
fish embryo. However, the heart is not the only organ impacted by developmental PAH
exposure. The developing brain is also affected, resulting in lasting behavioral dysfunction.
While acute exposures to some PAHs are teratogenically lethal in fish, little is known
about the later life consequences of early life, lower dose subteratogenic PAH exposures.
We sought to determine and characterize the long-term behavioral consequences of subteratogenic
developmental PAH mixture exposure in both naive killifish and PAH-adapted killifish
using sediment pore water derived from the Atlantic Wood Industries Superfund Site.
Killifish offspring were embryonically treated with two low-level PAH mixture dilutions
of Elizabeth River sediment extract (ERSE) (TPAH 5.04 μg/L and 50.4 μg/L) at 24h post
fertilization. Following exposure, killifish were raised to larval, juvenile, and
adult life stages and subjected to a series of behavioral tests including: a locomotor
activity test (4 days post-hatch), a sensorimotor response tap/habituation test (3
months post hatch), and a novel tank diving and exploration test (3months post hatch).
Killifish were also monitored for survival at 1, 2, and 5 months over 5-month rearing
period. Developmental PAH exposure caused short-term as well as persistent behavioral
impairments in naive killifish. In contrast, the PAH-adapted killifish did not show
behavioral alterations following PAH exposure. PAH mixture exposure caused increased
mortality in reference killifish over time; yet, the PAH-adapted killifish, while
demonstrating long-term rearing mortality, had no significant changes in mortality
associated with ERSE exposure. This study demonstrated that early embryonic exposure
to PAH-contaminated sediment pore water caused long-term locomotor and behavioral
alterations in killifish, and that locomotor alterations could be observed in early
larval stages. Additionally, our study highlights the resistance to behavioral alterations
caused by low-level PAH mixture exposure in the adapted killifish population. Furthermore,
this is the first longitudinal behavioral study to use killifish, an environmentally
important estuarine teleost fish, and this testing framework can be used for future
contaminant assessment.
Type
Journal articleSubject
Adaptive costsBehavior
Fundulus heteroclitus
Locomotion
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
Subteratogenic
Adaptation, Biological
Animals
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
Embryo, Nonmammalian
Embryonic Development
Environment
Exploratory Behavior
Fundulidae
Heart Defects, Congenital
Larva
Locomotion
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
Reflex, Startle
Statistics, Nonparametric
Time Factors
Water Pollutants, Chemical
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/12417Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1016/j.ntt.2015.10.007Publication Info
Brown, DR; Bailey, JM; Oliveri, AN; Levin, ED; & Di Giulio, RT (2016). Developmental exposure to a complex PAH mixture causes persistent behavioral effects
in naive Fundulus heteroclitus (killifish) but not in a population of PAH-adapted
killifish. Neurotoxicol Teratol, 53. pp. 55-63. 10.1016/j.ntt.2015.10.007. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/12417.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Richard T. Di Giulio
Research Professor of Environmental Toxicology in the Division of Environmental Science
and Policy
Dr. Di Giulio serves as Director of Duke University's Integrated Toxicology Program
and the Superfund Basic Research Center.
Dr. Di Giulio's research is concerned with basic studies of mechanisms of contaminant
metabolism, adaptation and toxicity, and with the development of mechanistically-based
indices of exposure and toxicity that can be employed in biomonitoring. The long term
goals of this research are to bridge the gap between mechanistic toxicological research
and the development of usef
Edward Daniel Levin
Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Dr. Levin is Chief of the Neurobehavioral Research Lab in the Psychiatry Department
of Duke University Medical Center. His primary academic appointment is as Professor
in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He also has secondary appointments
in the Department Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, the Department of Psychological
and Brain Sciences and the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke. His primary
research effort is to understand basic neural interactions underlying cogn
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