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Melatonin prevents the transgenerational toxicity of nanoplastics in zebrafish (Danio rerio)
Summary
This zebrafish study found that polystyrene nanoplastics caused harmful effects that passed from exposed parents to their offspring, including developmental problems and oxidative stress in the next generation. The hormone melatonin was able to protect against this transgenerational damage when given alongside the nanoplastic exposure. The findings suggest that nanoplastic exposure could affect not just the people exposed but potentially their children, and that antioxidants like melatonin might offer some protection.
As a novel pollutant, microplastic pollution has become a global environmental concern. Melatonin (MT) has a protective effect on the damage caused by pollutants. However, there is still a lack of research on the transgenerational toxicity of microplastics and the alleviation of microplastics toxicity by MT. In this study, the adult zebrafish was exposed to (0, 0.1 and 1 mg/L) polystyrene nanoplastics (PSNP) with or without (1 μM) MT for 14 days, and embryos (F1) were used for experiments. Our study found that long-term exposure of parents to 1 mg/L PSNP reduced fertilization rate and survival rate of offspring, increased the deformity rate and induced embryos to hatch in advance. The growth inhibition of offspring was related to the gene transcription of the growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor axis. Moreover, PSNP caused oxidative stress in offspring, damaged immune system, reduced antioxidant capacity and induced apoptosis. MT supplementation could effectively alleviate the developmental toxicity and oxidative damage of offspring, but the negative effects brought by PSNP could not be completely eliminated. Our research provided a new reference for the protective effect of MT on transgenerational toxicity induced by PSNP.