Embryotoxic and proteotoxic effects of water and sediment from the Neckar River (Southern Germany) to zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos

Abstract

Background: The Neckar River (Southern Germany) represents an aquatic system strongly affected by numerous anthropogenic activities. Thus, it is an excellent model for ecotoxicological investigations. The present study aims to assess time and spatial variations of embryo-and proteotoxic effects in surface water and sediment. For this end, embryos of zebrafish (Danio rerio) were exposed to Neckar River samples collected in the Tübingen region in different seasons over 2 years. Additionally, quantification of the heat shock (stress) protein Hsp70 was carried out in newly hatched larvae; furthermore, physico-chemical water parameters were measured in order to gain baseline information about the limnologic conditions.

Fish embryo tests with Danio rerio as a tool to evaluate surface water and sediment quality in rivers influenced by wastewater treatment plants using different treatment technologies

“…With respect to the suitability of the FET with D. rerio to assess surface water and sediment quality, we endorse the statements of Hollert et al (2003), Keiter et al (2006), and Vincze et al (2014) that it is feasible to use this test to elucidate the anthropogenic impact caused either by WWTPs or SOBs in aquatic ecosystems.…”

“…Since sediment-bound pollutants can be remobilized by bioturbation (Power and Chapman 1992) or flood events (Hollert et al 2000;Oetken et al 2005;Gerbersdorf et al 2011), they can become available to and thus hazardous for aquatic biota (Bartzke et al 2010). The presence of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment and the effects of polluted sediments have already been demonstrated in the studies by Keiter et al (2006), Triebskorn and Hetzenauer (2012), and Vincze et al (2014).…”

Cellular stress response biomarkers for toxicity potential assessment of treated wastewater complex mixtures

“…Furthermore, recent studies show great interest of gene biomarkers since the increase or inhibition of the gene expression represents a response to the environment stress and gives a measure of exposure and/or of toxic effect (Valavanidis and Vlachogianni, ; Fontanetti et al ., ). Among the molecular responses to adverse environmental impacts, a significant change in the pattern of gene expression and a rapid synthesis of ‘stress proteins’ or ‘heat shock proteins (Hsps)’ is the most common for organisms (Jikimoto et al ., ; Han et al ., ; Watanabe et al ., ; Vincze et al ., ). In fact, Hsps are one of the molecular biomarkers of effect which can be used as indicators for cellular and proteototoxic hazard.…”

“…In fact, Hsps are one of the molecular biomarkers of effect which can be used as indicators for cellular and proteototoxic hazard. The heat shock response is one of the major stress response pathways following heat stress and especially exposure to a variety of xenobiotics including metals and metalloids, heavy metals and oxidizing agents (Sanders, ; Ryan and Hightower, ; Vincze et al ., ). Indeed, Hsps enable the folding of nascent proteins by preventing their aggregation and then chaperoning them to sites of membrane translocation.…”

Danio rerio as a model in aquatic toxicology and sediment research

“…The zebrafish as a model organism has received an increasing relevance for (eco)toxicological risk assessment of chemicals and complex environmental mixtures to predict acute toxicity . Zebrafish embryos also provide the possibility to investigate molecular and mechanism-specific alterations to measure the bioavailable hazard potential of contaminated sediments (Hallare et al 2011;Vincze et al 2014) or fractions of effect-directed analyses .…”