Molecular toxicity of Benzo(a)pyrene mediated by elicited oxidative stress infer skeletal deformities and apoptosis in embryonic zebrafish

Hasnaa A Elfawy; S Anupriya; Swabhiman Mohanty; Paritosh Patel; Sayam Ghosal; Pritam Kumar Panda; Biswadeep Das; Suresh K Verma; Srinivas Patnaik

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147989

Molecular toxicity of Benzo(a)pyrene mediated by elicited oxidative stress infer skeletal deformities and apoptosis in embryonic zebrafish

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Oct 1:789:147989. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147989. Epub 2021 May 24.

Authors

Hasnaa A Elfawy¹, S Anupriya¹, Swabhiman Mohanty¹, Paritosh Patel¹, Sayam Ghosal¹, Pritam Kumar Panda², Biswadeep Das³, Suresh K Verma⁴, Srinivas Patnaik⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Biotechnology, KIIT deemed to be University, Campus XI, Bhubaneswar, 751024, Odisha, India.
² Condensed Matter Theory Group, Materials Theory Division, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Sweden.
³ School of Biotechnology, KIIT deemed to be University, Campus XI, Bhubaneswar, 751024, Odisha, India. Electronic address: biswadeep.das@kiitbiotech.ac.in.
⁴ School of Biotechnology, KIIT deemed to be University, Campus XI, Bhubaneswar, 751024, Odisha, India; Condensed Matter Theory Group, Materials Theory Division, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Sweden. Electronic address: sureshverma22@gmail.com.
⁵ School of Biotechnology, KIIT deemed to be University, Campus XI, Bhubaneswar, 751024, Odisha, India. Electronic address: srinivas.patnaik@kiitbiotech.ac.in.

PMID: 34323819
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147989

Abstract

Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) has become an integral component of disposed of plastic waste, organic pollutants, and remnants of combustible materials in the aquatic environment due to their persistent nature. The accumulation and integration of these polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have raised concern to human health and ecological safety. This study assessed the BaP-induced in vivo molecular toxicity with embryonic zebrafish inferred by oxidative stress and apoptosis. BaP was found to induce morphological and physiological abnormalities like delayed hatching (p < 0.05). Computational analysis demonstrated the high-affinity interaction of BaP with the zebrafish hatching enzyme (ZHE1) with Arg, Cys, Ala, Tyr, and Phe located at the active site revealing the influence of BaP on delayed hatching due to alteration of the enzyme structure. RT-PCR analysis revealed significant down-regulation of the skeletal genes Sox9a, SPP1/OPN, and Col1a1 (p < 0.05) genes. The cellular investigations unraveled that the toxicity of BaP extends to the skeletal regions of zebrafish (head, backbone, and tail) because of the elicited oxidative stress leading to apoptosis. The study extended the horizon of understanding of BaP toxicity at the molecular level which will enhance the indulgent and designing of techniques for better ecological sustainability.

Keywords: Benzo[a]pyrene; Bone-synthesis genes; Oxidative stress; Skeletal deformities; Zebrafish.