Novel Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Assay for Assessing Musk Ambrette-Induced Toxicity

By Li Qu - Chaomin Zhao - Chuanxian Wang - Shuqing Gu - Minchao Zhang - Xiaojun Deng - Weimin Song

Musk ambrette (4-tert-butyl-3-methoxy-2, 6-dinitrotoluene) is a nitro musk, a cheap substitute for natural musk and a potential environmental pollutant based on its persistence, accumulation in human organisms. We investigated the acute toxicity of musk ambrette using wild-type AB and transgenic Tg(fli1a:EGFP)ʸ¹ zebrafish. Different concentrations were delivered to zebrafish by direct soaking from 6 to 72 h post-fertilization (hpf). The LC₅₀ of musk ambrette was 76.4 µg mL⁻¹. As musk ambrette concentration increased, zebrafish embryos showed developmental delays (50 µg mL⁻¹, 22 hpf), pericardial edema (5 µg mL⁻¹, 48 hpf), circulatory disturbances, curved body axis (1 µg mL⁻¹, 72 hpf) and death (100 µg mL⁻¹, 22 hpf). Target organ toxicity was evaluated by a zebrafish angiogenesis model. Musk ambrette induced cardiovascular morphological changes, vessel permeability variation, angiogenic changes and cardiotoxicity (10 µg mL⁻¹, 48 hpf). The disappearance of caudal vein plexus confirmed the vascular development toxicity. Musk ambrette negatively affects early life-stage survival and demonstrates various toxicities in zebrafish.