Effects of di-n-butyl phthalate and diethyl phthalate on acetylcholinesterase activity and neurotoxicity related gene expression in embryonic zebrafish.

In the present study, zebrafish embryos were used to assess the neurotoxicity of di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), diethyl phthalate (DEP) and their mixture. Four-hour post-fertilization (hpf) zebrafish embryos were exposed to various concentrations of DBP, DEP and their mixture (DBP-DEP) until 96 hpf. The transcriptions levels of selected neuron-related genes reported as neurotoxicity biomarkers were analyzed. The results showed that transcripts of growth associated protein 43 (gap43), embryonic lethal abnormal vision-like 3 (elavl3), glial fibrillary acidic protein (gfap), myelin basic protein (mbp), α1-tubulin and neurogenin1 (ngn1) were significantly up-regulated after DBP, DEP and DBP-DEP mixture exposure. In addition, acetylcholinesterase activity was significantly inhibited in the embryos. These results indicate that DBP and DEP have the potential neurotoxicity in zebrafish embryos.