Abstract
As an emerging flame retardant, organic phosphate flame retardants have been extensively used worldwide. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of TnBP on neurobehavior of Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) and its mechanisms. L1 larvae of wild-type nematodes (N2) were exposed to TnBP of 0, 0.1, 1, 10, and 20 mg/L for 72 hours. Then, we observed that the body length and body width were inhibited, the head swings were increased, the pump contractions and chemical trend index were reduced, the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was increased, and the expression of mitochondrial oxidative stress related genes (mev-1 and gas-1) and P38 MAPK signal pathway-related genes (pmk-1, sek-1, and nsy-1) was altered. After reporter gene strains BZ555, DA1240, and EG1285 were exposed to TnBP of 0, 0.1, 1, 10, and 20 mg/L for 72 hours, the synthesis of dopamine, glutamate, and Gamma-Amino Butyric Acid (GABA) was increased. In addition, the pmk-1 mutants (KU25) led to the sensitivity of C. elegans to TnBP in terms of head swings. The results showed that TnBP had harmful effects on the neurobehavior of C. elegans, oxidative stress might be one of the mechanisms of its neurotoxicity, and P38 MAPK signal pathway might play an important regulatory role in this process. The results revealed the potential adverse effects of TnBP on the neurobehavior of C. elegans.
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The data generated or analyzed and the materials used during this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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The study was supported by the Open Research Fund Program of Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering, Ministry of Education (2017EME001).
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Jielin Tang and Jinyan Qin were responsible for coordinating the experiment, analyzing data, and writing articles; Guzailinuer Kuerban, Jiayi Li, and Qinyu Zhou were responsible for determining the theme and implementing the experiment; Hongdan Zhang and Rongli Sun participated in the implementation experiment; Lihong Yin and Yuepu Pu were responsible for revising the article; Juan Zhang was responsible for final revision.
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Tang, J., Qin, J., Kuerban, G. et al. Effects of tri-n-butyl phosphate (TnBP) on neurobehavior of Caenorhabditis elegans. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 85578–85591 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28015-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28015-9