The cardiovascular toxicity of triadimefon in early life stage of zebrafish and potential implications to human health.

The health risk of triadimefon (TF) to cardiovascular system of human is still unclear, especially to pesticide suicides population, occupational population (farmers, retailers and pharmaceutical workers), and special population (young children and infants, pregnant women, older people, and those with compromised immune systems) who are at a greater risk. Therefore, firstly we explored the toxic effects and possible mechanism of cardiovascular toxicity induced by TF using zebrafish model. Zebrafish at stage of 48 h post fertilization (hpf) exposed to TF for 24 h exhibited morphological malformations which were further confirmed by histopathologic examination, including pericardial edema, circulation abnormalities, serious venous thrombosis and increased distance between the sinus venosus (SV) and bulbus arteriosus (BA) regions of the heart. In addition to morphological changes, TF induced functional deficits in the heart of zebrafish, including bradycardia and a significant reduced cardiac output that became more serious at higher concentrations. To better understand the possible molecular mechanisms underlying cardiovascular toxicity in zebrafish, we investigated the transcriptional level of genes related to calcium signaling pathway and cardiac muscle contraction. Q-PCR (quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction) results demonstrated that the expression level of genes related to ATPase (atp2a1l, atp1b2b, atp1a3b), calcium channel (cacna1ab, cacna1da) and cardiac troponin C (tnnc1a) were significantly decreased after TF exposure. For the first time, the present study revealed that TF exposure had observable morphological and functional negative impacts on cardiovascular system of zebrafish. Mechanistically, this toxicity might result from the pressure of down-regulation of genes associated with calcium signaling pathway and cardiac muscle contraction following TF exposure. These findings generated here can provide information for better pesticide poisoning treatments, occupational disease prevention, and providing theoretical foundation for risk management measures.

A Zebrafish Thrombosis Model for Assessing Antithrombotic Drugs.

Thrombosis is a leading cause of death and the development of effective and safe therapeutic agents for thrombotic diseases has been proven challenging. In this study, taking advantage of the transparency of larval zebrafish, we developed a larval zebrafish thrombosis model for drug screening and efficacy assessment. Zebrafish at 2 dpf (days post fertilization) were treated with phenylhydrazine (PHZ) and a testing drug for 24 h. Tested drugs were administered into the zebrafish either by direct soaking or circulation microinjection. Antithrombotic efficacy was quantitatively evaluated based on our previously patented technology characterized as an image analysis of the heart red blood cells stained with O-dianisidine staining. Zebrafish at 2 dpf treated with PHZ at a concentration of 1.5 µM for a time period of 24 h were determined as the optimum conditions for the zebrafish thrombosis model development. Induced thrombosis in zebrafish was visually confirmed under a dissecting stereomicroscope and quantified by the image assay. All 6 human antithrombotic drugs (aspirin, clopidogrel, diltiazem hydrochloride injection, xuanshuantong injection, salvianolate injection, and astragalus injection) showed significant preventive and therapeutic effects on zebrafish thrombosis (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, & p < 0.001) in this zebrafish thrombosis model. The larval zebrafish thrombosis model developed and validated in this study could be used for in vivo thrombosis studies and for rapid screening and efficacy assessment of antithrombotic drugs.

Closantel Suppresses Angiogenesis and Cancer Growth in Zebrafish Models.

Angiogenesis has emerged as an important therapeutic target in several major diseases, including cancer and age-related macular degeneration. The zebrafish offer the potential for high-throughput drug discovery in a whole vertebrate system. In this study, we have taken advantage of the transgenic Tg (fli1a:EGFP) zebrafish line to screen the U.S. Drug Collection Library and identified 11 old drugs with antiangiogenic activity, including Closantel, an FDA-approved broad-spectrum salicylanilide antiparasitic drug for a variety of types of animals. Closantel was confirmed to have antiangiogenic activity in zebrafish with a half-inhibitory concentration (IC50) at 1.69 µM on the intersegmental vessels and 1.45 µM on the subintestinal vessels. Closantel also markedly suppressed cancer growth in zebrafish xenotransplanted with human lymphoma, cervical cancer, pancreatic cancer, and liver cancer cells, generally in a dose-dependent manner. These data reveal that Closantel has antiangiogenesis and anticancer effects and could be a potential drug candidate for animal and human cancer treatments. Further study is needed to clarify the mechanisms involved in the antiangiogenesis and anticancer effects of Closantel.

Developing antibodies from cholinesterase derived from prokaryotic expression and testing their feasibility for detecting immunogen content in Daphnia magna.

To yield cholinesterase (ChE) from prokaryotic expression, the ChE gene that belongs to Daphnia magna was amplified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using forward primer 5'-CCCYGGNGCSAT GATGTG-3' and reverse primer 5'-GYAAGTTRGCCCAATATCT-3'. To express the gene, one sequence of the amplified DNA, which was able to encode a putative protein containing two conserved carboxylesterase domains, was connected to the prokaryotic expression vector PET-29a(+). The recombinant vector was transformed into Escherichia coil BL21 (DE3). Protein expression was induced by isopropy-D-thiogalactoside. The expressed ChE was used as an immunogen to immunize BALB/c mice. The obtained antibodies were tested for their specificity towards crude enzymes from species such as Alona milleri, Macrobrachium nipponense, Bombyx mori, Chironomus kiiensis, Apis mellifera, Eisenia foetida, Brachydanio rerio, and Xenopus laevis. Results indicated that the antibodies had specificity suitable for detecting ChE in Daphnia magna. A type of indirect and non-competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (IN-ELISA) was used to test the immunoreactive content of ChE (ChE-IR) in Daphina magna. The detection limit of the IN-ELISA was found to be 14.5 ng/ml at an antiserum dilution of 1:22 000. Results from tests on Daphnia magna exposed to sublethal concentrations of triazophos indicated a maximal induction of 57.2% in terms of ChE-IR on the second day after the animals were exposed to a concentration of 2.10 µg/L triazophos. Testing on animals acclimatized to a temperature of 16 °C indicated that ChE-IR was induced by 16.9% compared with the ChE-IR content detected at 21 °C, and the rate of induction was 25.6% at 10 °C. The IN-ELISA was also used to test the stability of ChE-IR in collected samples. Repeated freezing and thawing had no influence on the outcome of the test. All these results suggest that the polyclonal antibodies developed against the recombinant ChE are as efficient as those developed against the native ChE in detecting ChE content in Daphnia magna.

Toxicity induced by Basic Violet 14, Direct Red 28 and Acid Red 26 in zebrafish larvae.

Basic Violet 14, Direct Red 28 and Acid Red 26 are classified as carcinogenic dyes in the European textile ecology standard, despite insufficient toxicity data. In this study, the toxicity of these dyes was assessed in a zebrafish model, and the underlying toxic mechanisms were investigated. Basic Violet 14 and Direct Red 28 showed acute toxicity with a LC50 value at 60.63 and 476.84 µg ml(-1) , respectively, whereas the LC50 of Acid Red 26 was between 2500 and 2800 µg ml(-1) . Treatment with Basic Violet 14, Direct Red 28 and Acid Red 26 resulted in common developmental abnormalities including delayed yolk sac absorption and swimming bladder deflation. Hepatotoxicity was observed in zebrafish treated with Basic Violet 14, and cardiovascular toxicity was found in zebrafish treated with Acid Red 26 at concentrations higher than 2500 µg ml(-1) . Basic Violet 14 also caused significant up-regulation of GCLC gene expression in a dose-dependent manner whereas Acid Red 26 induced significant up-regulation of NKX2.5 and down-regulation of GATA4 at a high concentration in a dose-dependent manner. These results suggest that Basic Violet 14, Direct Red 28 and Acid Red 26 induce developmental and organ-specific toxicity, and oxidative stress may play a role in the hepatotoxicity of Basic Violet 14, the suppressed GATA4 expression may have a relation to the cardiovascular toxicity of Acid Red 26.

Tween-80 and impurity induce anaphylactoid reaction in zebrafish.

A number of recent reports suspected that Tween-80 in injectable medicines, including traditional Chinese medicine injections could cause life-threatening anaphylactoid reaction, but no sound conclusion was drawn. A drug-induced anaphylactoid reaction is hard to be assayed in vitro and in conventional animal models. In this study, we developed a microplate-based quantitative in vivo zebrafish assay for assessing anaphylactoid reaction and live whole zebrafish mast cell tryptase activity was quantitatively measured at a wavelength of 405 nm using N-benzoyl-dl-arginine p-nitroanilide as a substrate. We assessed 10 batches of Tween-80 solutions from various national and international suppliers and three Tween-80 impurities (ethylene glycol, 2-chloroethanol and hydrogen peroxide) in this model and found that three batches of Tween-80 (nos 2, 20080709 and 20080616) and one Tween-80 impurity, hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ), induced anaphylactoid reactions in zebrafish. Furthermore, we found that H2 O2 residue and peroxide value were much higher in Tween-80 samples 2, 20080709 and 20080616. These findings suggest that H2 O2 residue in combination with oxidized fatty acid residues (measured as peroxide value) or more likely the oxidized fatty acid residues in Tween-80 samples, but not Tween-80 itself, may induce anaphylactoid reaction. High-throughput zebrafish tryptase assay developed in this report could be used for assessing safety of Tween-80-containing injectable medicines and potentially for screening novel mast cell-modulating drugs.

N9 microglial cells polarized by LPS and IL4 show differential responses to secondary environmental stimuli.

Microglia participates in the regulation of many inflammation-related pathological processes in the central nervous system, but how microglial activation is regulated has not been fully understood. Here, by using a microglial cell line, we show that microglia, like other macrophages, are activated by inflammatory stimuli in a polarized manner. The LPS-polarized M1 microglia appeared to be unable to respond to a secondary IL4 stimulation, while IL4-polarized M2 microglia could respond to secondary LPS stimulation. We also show that Notch signaling is involved in microglial polarization. When Notch signaling was blocked, the M1 polarization was suppressed, while the M2 polarization was promoted. Withdraw of the Notch signal inhibitor did not permit M2 N9 cells to re-polarize to M1 upon LPS stimulation, suggesting that the effects of Notch blockade on microglial polarization could be "memorized" by cells. These results suggest complicated mechanisms including epigenetic programs in the regulation of macrophage polarization.