PUBLICATION

Comparative transcriptomics implicate mitochondrial and neurodevelopmental impairments in larval zebrafish (Danio rerio) exposed to two selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)

Authors
Huang, I.J., Dheilly, N.M., Sirotkin, H.I., McElroy, A.E.
ID
ZDB-PUB-200906-6
Date
2020
Source
Ecotoxicology and environmental safety   203: 110934 (Journal)
Registered Authors
McElroy, Anne, Sirotkin, Howard
Keywords
Fluoxetine, Neurodevelopment, Paroxetine, SMART-seq, Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, Toxicogenomics, Zebrafish
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Brain/drug effects*
  • Brain/embryology
  • Computational Biology
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/drug effects
  • Embryonic Development/drug effects
  • Humans
  • Larva/drug effects*
  • Larva/genetics
  • Mitochondria/drug effects*
  • Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors/toxicity*
  • Sequence Analysis, RNA
  • Transcriptome/drug effects*
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical/toxicity*
  • Zebrafish*/genetics
PubMed
32888599 Full text @ Ecotoxicol. Environ. Saf.
Abstract
Pharmaceuticals and personal care products are emerging contaminants that are increasingly detected in the environment worldwide. Certain classes of pharmaceuticals, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), are a major environmental concern due to their widespread use and the fact that these compounds are designed to have biological effects at low doses. A complication in predicting toxic effects of SSRIs in nontarget organisms is that their mechanism of action is not fully understood. To better understand the potential toxic effects of SSRIs, we employed an ultra-low input RNA-sequencing method to identify potential pathways that are affected by early exposure to two SSRIs (fluoxetine and paroxetine). We exposed wildtype zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos to 100 μg/L of either fluoxetine or paroxetine for 6 days before extracting and sequencing mRNA from individual larval brains. Differential gene expression analysis identified 1550 genes that were significantly affected by SSRI exposure with a core set of 138 genes altered by both SSRIs. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis identified 7 modules of genes whose expression patterns were significantly correlated with SSRI exposure. Functional enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes as well as network module genes repeatedly identified various terms associated with mitochondrial and neuronal structures, mitochondrial respiration, and neurodevelopmental processes. The enrichment of these terms indicates that toxic effects of SSRI exposure are likely caused by mitochondrial dysfunction and subsequent neurodevelopmental effects. To our knowledge, this is the first effort to study the tissue-specific transcriptomic effects of SSRIs in developing zebrafish, providing specific, high resolution molecular data regarding the sublethal effects of SSRI exposure.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping