PUBLICATION
Environmentally relevant concentrations of triclocarban affect behaviour, learning, and brain gene expression in fish
- Authors
- Lucon-Xiccato, T., Savaşçı, B.B., Merola, C., Benedetti, E., Caioni, G., Aliko, V., Bertolucci, C., Perugini, M.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-230902-51
- Date
- 2023
- Source
- The Science of the total environment 903: 166717 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Bertolucci, Cristiano, Lucon-Xiccato, Tyrone
- Keywords
- Cognitive plasticity, Danio rerio, Fish behaviour, Learning, TCC
- MeSH Terms
- none
- PubMed
- 37657536 Full text @ Sci. Total Environ.
Citation
Lucon-Xiccato, T., Savaşçı, B.B., Merola, C., Benedetti, E., Caioni, G., Aliko, V., Bertolucci, C., Perugini, M. (2023) Environmentally relevant concentrations of triclocarban affect behaviour, learning, and brain gene expression in fish. The Science of the total environment. 903:166717.
Abstract
Many chemicals spilled in aquatic ecosystems can interfere with cognitive abilities and brain functions that control fitness-related behaviour. Hence, their harmful potential may be substantially underestimated. Triclocarban (TCC), one of the most common aquatic contaminants, is known to disrupt hormonal activity, but the consequences of this action on behaviour and its underlying cognitive mechanisms are unclear. We tried to fill this knowledge gap by analysing behaviour, cognitive abilities, and brain gene expression in zebrafish larvae exposed to TCC sublethal concentrations. TCC exposure substantially decreased exploratory behaviour and response to stimulation, while it increased sociability. Additionally, TCC reduced the cognitive performance of zebrafish in a habituation learning task. In the brain of TCC-exposed zebrafish, we found upregulation of c-fos, a gene involved in neural activity, and downregulation of bdnf, a gene that influences behavioural and cognitive traits such as activity, learning, and memory. Overall, our experiments highlight consistent effects of non-lethal TCC concentrations on behaviour, cognitive abilities, and brain functioning in a teleost fish, suggesting critical fitness consequences of these compounds in aquatic ecosystems as well as the potential to affect human health.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping