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Histological Biomarkers and Protein Expression in Hyphessobrycon eques Fish Exposed to Atrazine

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Abstract

Pesticides are one of the main sources of pollution on the planet, affecting different environments. The aim of the study was to evaluate the chronic effect of atrazine (ATZ) on brain, gill, and liver histology and the clinical signs of intoxication in Hyphessobrycon eques fish and to determine the effect on the expression of proteins related to proliferation, damage, death, and cellular stress pathways. The chronic toxicity test was performed during 30 days of exposure to ATZ. Concentrations of 0.57, 1.14, 5.74, and 11.50 mg L−1 were applied and there was a control. Aquariums with a capacity of 5 L of water were used with aeration pumps containing 5 animals per replica, weighing between 1.0 ± 0.2 g per organism. At the end of the chronic toxicity tests of ATZ for H. eques, samples of the gills, brain, and liver were collected for histological analysis. The same organs were collected and stored in cryogen tubes in liquid nitrogen until the moment of extraction and then massaged mechanically for the Western-blot technique. In the histopathological analyses, the gills showed the greatest changes in relation to the other organs, such as the loss of support of the secondary lamellae, and the fish also showed a loss of swim bladder capacity. In conclusion, ATZ in the environment, in long-term exposure, can cause histological and biochemical effects, affecting the survival and proliferation of cell pathways.

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Funding

Isabella Alves Brunetti received grants from the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) (Proc. 2015/03420–6). This work is funded by the Laboratory of Ecotoxicology and Pesticide Efficacy of the Barretos—Brazil. Juliana Heloisa Pinê Américo-Pinheiro thanks Brazil University for the Institutional Research Development and Support Grant. 

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Ecotoxicologia E Eficácia Dos Agrotóxicos (LEEA), do Centro Universitário da Fundação Educacional de Barretos (UNIFEB), Avenue Prof. Roberto Frade Monte, number 389, Barretos, São Paulo, 14783-226, Brazil

    Isabella Alves Brunetti, Pâmela Castro Pereira, Danilo Sagrillos Oliveira & Claudinei da Cruz

  2. Centro de Pesquisa Em Oncologia Molecular (CPOM), Hospital de Câncer de Barretos, Avenue Do Ébano, number 165-1, Dr. Paulo Prata, Barretos, São Paulo, 14784-384, Brazil

    Viviane Aline Oliveira Silva

  3. Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS) Medical School, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Rui Manuel Reis

  4. ICVS/3B’s-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal

    Rui Manuel Reis

  5. Brazil University, Street Carolina Fonseca, number 584, São Paulo, São Paulo, 08230-030, Brazil

    Juliana Heloisa Pinê Américo-Pinheiro

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  1. Isabella Alves Brunetti
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Contributions

Isabella Alves Brunetti: conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, data curation, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing, visualization, funding acquisition. Pâmela Castro Pereira: methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, data curation, writing—original draft. Danilo Sagrillos Oliveira: methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, data curation, writing—original draft. Viviane Aline Oliveira Silva: methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, writing—original draft. Rui Manuel Reis: methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, writing—original draft. Juliana Heloisa Pinê Américo-Pinheiro: formal analysis, investigation, resources, data curation, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing, visualization, supervision, project administration. Claudinei da Cruz: conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, data curation, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing, visualization, supervision, project administration, funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Juliana Heloisa Pinê Américo-Pinheiro.

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Brunetti, I.A., Pereira, P.C., Oliveira, D.S. et al. Histological Biomarkers and Protein Expression in Hyphessobrycon eques Fish Exposed to Atrazine. Water Air Soil Pollut 233, 97 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-022-05569-x

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