Developmental neurotoxicity assessment of arsenic: evaluation of apoptosis and behavioural response in the zebrafish larvae

Developmental Neurotoxicity research (DNT) aims to understand the adverse effects of xenobiotic exposure to the developing nervous system. The presence of a large number of yet untested chemicals in commerce, together with the increasing numbers of neurodevelopmental disorders worldwide, the pressur...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Abu Bakar, Noraini, Mohd Sata, Nurul Syafida Asma', Wan Ibrahim, Wan Norhamidah
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Microscopy Society Malaysia 2015
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/75597/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/75597/1/Developmental%20neurotoxicity%20assessment%20of%20arsenic%20evaluation%20of%20apoptosis%20and%20behavioural%20response%20in%20the%20zebrafish%20larvae.pdf
_version_ 1848857733344788480
author Abu Bakar, Noraini
Mohd Sata, Nurul Syafida Asma'
Wan Ibrahim, Wan Norhamidah
author_facet Abu Bakar, Noraini
Mohd Sata, Nurul Syafida Asma'
Wan Ibrahim, Wan Norhamidah
author_sort Abu Bakar, Noraini
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Developmental Neurotoxicity research (DNT) aims to understand the adverse effects of xenobiotic exposure to the developing nervous system. The presence of a large number of yet untested chemicals in commerce, together with the increasing numbers of neurodevelopmental disorders worldwide, the pressure to the scientific community to develop testing strategies that can speed up the process of DNT testing become more critical. Behaviour of laboratory animal such as zebrafish has become a golden key for high-throughput screening in DNT testing owing to special characteristics of the zebrafish such as high fecundity, transparent eggs and fully characterized genome and behaviour phenotypes. In this study, we have assessed the zebrafish larvae behaviour in terms of sensorimotor response, motor response and social behaviour after exposure to arsenic (0μM, 2500μM, 3500μM) from 5 hours post fertilization until hatching in a semi-static condition. Arsenic was used as the model chemical because it is already classified as neurotoxic to human development. We also evaluated the apoptosis in the eye and brain area at 24hpf after exposure to arsenic (0μM, 2000μM, 4000μM). We found that exposure to arsenic significantly affect the right preference of the larvae at 6 days post fertilization as compared to the control by using our semi-high-throughput behavioural testing system. No significant difference in other parameters (edge and down preference, outward and clockwise orientation, distance between the larvae and swimming speed). In addition, exposure to 4000μM arsenic increase (35%) the percentage of apoptotic cells in the brain area as compared to the control. This study has shown that zebrafish is a powerful tool that can used to assess developmental neurotoxicity effects of toxicant at the behavioural and cellular level. Further study to understand the mechanisms that underlie the behavioural alterations and induction of apoptosis is necessary.
first_indexed 2025-11-15T12:02:14Z
format Article
id upm-75597
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-15T12:02:14Z
publishDate 2015
publisher Microscopy Society Malaysia
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling upm-755972019-11-12T02:29:07Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/75597/ Developmental neurotoxicity assessment of arsenic: evaluation of apoptosis and behavioural response in the zebrafish larvae Abu Bakar, Noraini Mohd Sata, Nurul Syafida Asma' Wan Ibrahim, Wan Norhamidah Developmental Neurotoxicity research (DNT) aims to understand the adverse effects of xenobiotic exposure to the developing nervous system. The presence of a large number of yet untested chemicals in commerce, together with the increasing numbers of neurodevelopmental disorders worldwide, the pressure to the scientific community to develop testing strategies that can speed up the process of DNT testing become more critical. Behaviour of laboratory animal such as zebrafish has become a golden key for high-throughput screening in DNT testing owing to special characteristics of the zebrafish such as high fecundity, transparent eggs and fully characterized genome and behaviour phenotypes. In this study, we have assessed the zebrafish larvae behaviour in terms of sensorimotor response, motor response and social behaviour after exposure to arsenic (0μM, 2500μM, 3500μM) from 5 hours post fertilization until hatching in a semi-static condition. Arsenic was used as the model chemical because it is already classified as neurotoxic to human development. We also evaluated the apoptosis in the eye and brain area at 24hpf after exposure to arsenic (0μM, 2000μM, 4000μM). We found that exposure to arsenic significantly affect the right preference of the larvae at 6 days post fertilization as compared to the control by using our semi-high-throughput behavioural testing system. No significant difference in other parameters (edge and down preference, outward and clockwise orientation, distance between the larvae and swimming speed). In addition, exposure to 4000μM arsenic increase (35%) the percentage of apoptotic cells in the brain area as compared to the control. This study has shown that zebrafish is a powerful tool that can used to assess developmental neurotoxicity effects of toxicant at the behavioural and cellular level. Further study to understand the mechanisms that underlie the behavioural alterations and induction of apoptosis is necessary. Microscopy Society Malaysia 2015 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/75597/1/Developmental%20neurotoxicity%20assessment%20of%20arsenic%20evaluation%20of%20apoptosis%20and%20behavioural%20response%20in%20the%20zebrafish%20larvae.pdf Abu Bakar, Noraini and Mohd Sata, Nurul Syafida Asma' and Wan Ibrahim, Wan Norhamidah (2015) Developmental neurotoxicity assessment of arsenic: evaluation of apoptosis and behavioural response in the zebrafish larvae. Malaysian Journal of Microscopy, 11 (Supp 1). pp. 41-42. ISSN 1823-7010
spellingShingle Abu Bakar, Noraini
Mohd Sata, Nurul Syafida Asma'
Wan Ibrahim, Wan Norhamidah
Developmental neurotoxicity assessment of arsenic: evaluation of apoptosis and behavioural response in the zebrafish larvae
title Developmental neurotoxicity assessment of arsenic: evaluation of apoptosis and behavioural response in the zebrafish larvae
title_full Developmental neurotoxicity assessment of arsenic: evaluation of apoptosis and behavioural response in the zebrafish larvae
title_fullStr Developmental neurotoxicity assessment of arsenic: evaluation of apoptosis and behavioural response in the zebrafish larvae
title_full_unstemmed Developmental neurotoxicity assessment of arsenic: evaluation of apoptosis and behavioural response in the zebrafish larvae
title_short Developmental neurotoxicity assessment of arsenic: evaluation of apoptosis and behavioural response in the zebrafish larvae
title_sort developmental neurotoxicity assessment of arsenic: evaluation of apoptosis and behavioural response in the zebrafish larvae
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/75597/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/75597/1/Developmental%20neurotoxicity%20assessment%20of%20arsenic%20evaluation%20of%20apoptosis%20and%20behavioural%20response%20in%20the%20zebrafish%20larvae.pdf