The acute and sub-chronic toxicological effects of 3-amino-9-ethylcarbazole (AEC) on zebrafish.

INTRODUCTION

In this study, we sought to determine the sub-chronic toxicological effects of AEC on zebrafish embryos.

METHODS

We utilized fish early life stage (FELS) and fish embryo toxicity (FET) tests, vascular, neurological, and renal transgenic zebrafish lines, and gene expression anal-ysis of the zebrafish tissue.

RESULTS

In the FET tests, AEC caused several abnormalities in the larvae, with the LC50 at 24 hpf being 4.076 ± 0.221 mg/L and 3.296 ± 0.127 mg/L at 96 hpf. In the FELS test, AEC was shown to be lethal following 16 days of exposure at 0.5 mg/L, 1 mg/L and 2 mg/L. Some of the transgenic zebrafish lines exhibited slight changes in fluorescent signaling pat-terns after exposure to AEC at 1 mg/L and 2 mg/L. Notable results of the gene expression analysis revealed: gpx4b and got2 were downregulated in the liver; HIF1a was downregulated at 0.25 mg/L and 0.5 mg/L concentrations, NOTCH1a and fli-1 genes were downregulated at all concentrations, and A2b was upregulated in the vasculature; a1T, ngn1, elavl3, syn2a, mbp, gap43 were down-regulated in the nervous system; and wt1b was downregulated in the kidney.

DISCUCCION: Altogether, the results of our study indicate the potential for AEC to cause harm to organisms.