GSE157816
Nanoplastics and sunscreens contained in personal care products induce neurotoxicity in early zebrafish embryos
Nanoplastics with small particle size and high surface area/volume ratio make them easy to absorb environmental pollutants and affect their bioavailability. In this study, polystyrene nanoplastic beads (PS-NPBs) with a particle size of 100nm and sunscreen butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane (BMDBM) contained in personal care products were chosen as target pollutants to study their developmental toxicity and interactive effects on zebrafish embryo. The exposure period was 2-12 hours post fertilization (hpf). The BMDBM and PS-NPBs significantly upregulated the genes related to antioxidant enzymes and downregulated the gene expression of aromatase and DNA methyltransferases, but the influenced genes were not exactly the same, and the combined exposure reduced the adverse effects on the expression of all genes. With the help of single-cell RNA sequencing technology, the neural mid cells were identified as the target cells of both pollutants, and brain development, head development and notch signaling pathway were the functions they commonly altered. The key genes and functions that are specifically affected by BMDBM and/or PS-NPBs were identified. The BMDBM mainly affect the differentiation and fate of neurons in central nervous system through the regulation of her5, her6, her11, lfng, pax2a and fgfr4. The PS-NPBs regulated the expression of olig2, foxg1a, fzd8b, six3a, rx1, lhx2b, nkx2.1a and sfrp5 to alter nervous system development, retinal development, and stem cell differentiation. The phenotypic responses of zebrafish larvae at 120 hpf were tested, and significant inhibition of locomotor activity was found, indicating that early disrupting effect on central nervous system would have a sustained impact on the behavior of zebrafish. Overall design: mRNA profiles of 12 hpf wild type zebrafish embryos