Multibiomarker-based assessment of toxicity of central European strains of filamentous cyanobacteria Aphanizomenon gracile and Raphidiopsis raciborskii to zebrafish Danio rerio.

Falfushynska H

Falfushynska H(1), Horyn O(2), Osypenko I(2), Rzymski P(3), Wejnerowski Ł(4), Dziuba MK(4), Sokolova IM(5).
Author information:
(1)Department of Orthopedagogy and Physical Therapy, Ternopil V. Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University, Ternopil, Ukraine; Department of Marine Biology, Institute for Biological Sciences, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany.
(2)Department of Orthopedagogy and Physical Therapy, Ternopil V. Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University, Ternopil, Ukraine.
(3)Department of Environmental Medicine, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland; Integrated Science Association
(ISA), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network
(USERN), Poznań, Poland.
(4)Department of Hydrobiology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Uniwersytetu Poznańskiego 6, 61-614 Poznań, Poland.
(5)Department of Marine Biology, Institute for Biological Sciences, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany; Department of Maritime Systems, Interdisciplinary Faculty, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany. Electronic address: [Email]

https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2021.116923

The global increase in cyanobacterial blooms poses environmental and health threats. Selected cyanobacterial strains reveal toxicities despite a lack of synthesis of known toxic metabolites, and the mechanisms of these toxicities are not well understood. Here we investigated the toxicity of non-cylindrospermopsin and non-microcystin producing Aphanizomenon gracile and Raphidiopsis raciborskii of Central European origin to zebrafish exposed for 14 days to their extracts. Toxicological screening revealed the presence of anabaenopeptins and a lack of anatoxin-a, ß-methylamino-L-alanine or saxitoxins in examined extracts. The responses were compared to 20 μg L-1 of common cyanobacterial toxins cylindrospermopsin (CYN) and microcystin-LR (MC-LR). The expression of the marker genes involved in apoptosis (caspase 3a and 3b, Bcl-2, BAX, p53, MAPK, Nrf2), DNA damage detection and repair (GADD45, RAD51, JUN, XPC), detoxification (CYP1A, CYP26, EPHX1), lipid metabolism (PPARa, FABP1, PLA2), phosphorylation/dephosphorylation (PPP6C, PPM1) and cytoskeleton (actin, tubulin) were examined using targeted transcriptomics. Cellular stress and toxicity biomarkers (oxidative injury, antioxidant enzymes, thiol pool status, and lactate dehydrogenase activity) were measured in the liver, and acetylcholinesterase activity was determined as an index of neurotoxicity in the brain. The extracts of three cyanobacterial strains that produce no known cyanotoxins caused marked toxicity in D. rerio, and the biomarker profiles indicate different toxic mechanisms between the bioactive compounds extracted from these strains and the purified cyanotoxins. All studied cyanobacterial extracts and purified cyanotoxins induced oxidative stress and neurotoxicity, downregulated Nrf2 and CYP26B1, disrupted phosphorylation/dephosphorylation processes and actin/tubulin cytoskeleton and upregulated apoptotic activity in the liver. The tested strains and purified toxins displayed distinctively different effects on lipid metabolism. Unlike CYN and MC-LR, the Central European strain of A. gracile and R. raciborskii did not reveal a genotoxic potential. These findings help to further understand the ecotoxicological consequences of toxic cyanobacterial blooms in freshwater ecosystems.