Mepanipyrim induces visual developmental toxicity and vision-guided behavioral alteration in zebrafish larvae
Zhenghong Zuo , Chao Shen , Yimei Cai , Jialing Li , Chengyong He
DOI:10.1016/j.jes.2021.11.008
Received July 29, 2021,Revised , Accepted November 08, 2021, Available online February 01, 2022
Volume 35,2023,Pages 76-88
Mepanipyrim, an anilinopyrimidine fungicide, has been extensively used to prevent fungal diseases in fruit culture. Currently, research on mepanipyrim-induced toxicity in organisms is still very scarce, especially visual developmental toxicity. Here, zebrafish larvae were employed to investigate mepanipyrim-induced visual developmental toxicity. Intense light and monochromatic light stimuli-evoked escape experiments were used to investigate vision-guided behaviors. Meanwhile, transcriptomic sequencing and real-time quantitative PCR assays were applied to assess the potential mechanisms of mepanipyrim-induced visual developmental toxicity and vision-guided behavioral alteration. Our results showed that mepanipyrim exposure could induce retinal impairment and vision-guided behavioral alteration in larval zebrafish. In addition, the grk1b gene of the phototransduction signaling pathway was found to be a potential aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR)-regulated gene. Mepanipyrim-induced visual developmental toxicity was potentially related to the AhR signaling pathway. Furthermore, mepanipyrim-induced behavioral alteration was guided by the visual function, and the effects of mepanipyrim on long and middle wavelength light-sensitive opsins may be the main cause of vision-guided behavioral alteration. Our results provide insights into understanding the relationship between visual development and vision-guided behaviors induced by mepanipyrim exposure.
