Abstract
The contamination of life-sustaining environments with synthetic pollutants such as plastic-derived compounds has increased at an alarming rate in recent decades. Among such contaminants, di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) is an extensively used compound in plastics and plastic products to make them flexible. DEHP causes several adverse effects such as reproductive toxicity leading to infertility, miscarriage and litter size reduction, disruption of the thyroid endocrine system, oxidative stress, neurodevelopmental defect and cognitive impairment. An aquatic environment is a fragile site, where the accumulation of DEHP poses a significant threat to living organisms. In this context, the present study focused on whether the neurobehavioural transformation following exposure to DEHP is an outcome of augmented oxidative stress and neuromorphological alteration in the zebrafish brain. Our preliminary findings advocate that DEHP acts as a typical neurotoxicant in inducing neurobehavioural transformation in zebrafish. Furthermore, our study also supports the idea that DEHP itself acts as a potent neurotoxicant by altering the glutathione biosynthetic pathway through the induction of oxidative stress in the zebrafish brain. Similarly, our findings also link the abovementioned neurobehavioural transformation and oxidative stress with augmented neuronal pyknosis and chromatin condensation in the periventricular grey zone of the zebrafish brain following chronic exposure to DEHP. Therefore, the overall conclusion of the present study advocates the potential role of DEHP in inducing neuropathological manifestation in the zebrafish brain. Future research directed towards elucidating the neuroprotective efficacy of natural compounds against DEHP-induced neurotoxicity may provide a new line of intervention.
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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the contribution of Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Odisha, India, for providing the necessary infrastructure facility and support. Dr. Saroj Kumar Das is supported by Grants from UGC start-up, ICMR DHR, and ICMR Adhoc. The authors recognise the contribution of Dr. Ritendra Mishra, Mumbai, India, for giving critical inputs in proofreading of the manuscript.
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Conceptualization, funding acquisition, writing-original draft preparation and supervision: [Saroj Kumar Das].
Data collection and formal analysis: [Prerana Sarangi], [Lilesh Kumar Pradhan] and [Pradyumna Kumar Sahoo].
Writing-Review and editing: [Nishant Ranjan Chauhan].
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Ethical approval for all experimental procedures (IAEC No: IAEC/SPS/SOA/27/2021 dated 28 December 2021) was obtained from Institutional Animals Ethics Committee (IAEC), Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Odisha, India.
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Sarangi, P., Pradhan, L.K., Sahoo, P.K. et al. Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate-induced neurobehavioural transformation is associated with altered glutathione biosynthesis and neurodegeneration in zebrafish brain. Fish Physiol Biochem 49, 501–514 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-023-01197-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-023-01197-2