Effects of pristine or contaminated polyethylene microplastics on zebrafish development

The presence of microplastics in the aquatic ecosystem represents a major issue for the environment and human health. The capacity of organic pollutants to adsorb onto microplastic particles raises additional concerns, as it creates a new route for toxic compounds to enter the food web. Current knowledge on the impact of pristine and/or contaminated microplastics on aquatic organisms remains insufficient, and we provide here new insights by evaluating their biological effects in zebrafish (Danio rerio). Zebrafish larvae were raised in ZEB316 stand-alone housing systems and chronically exposed throughout their development to polyethylene particles of 20-27 μm, pristine (MP) or spiked with benzo[α]pyrene (MP-BaP), supplemented at 1% w/w in the fish diet. While they had no effect at 30 days post-fertilization (dpf), MP and MP-BaP affected growth parameters at 90 and 360 dpf. Relative fecundity, egg morphology, and yolk area were also impaired in zebrafish fed MP-BaP. Zebrafish exposed to experimental diets exhibited an increased incidence of skeletal deformities at 30 dpf as well as an impaired development of caudal fin/scales, and a decreased bone quality at 90 dpf. An intergenerational bone formation impairment was also observed in the offspring of parents exposed to MP or MP-BaP through a reduction of the opercular bone in 6 dpf larvae. Beside a clear effect on bone development, histological analysis of the gut revealed a reduced number of goblet cells in zebrafish fed MP-BaP diet, a sign of intestinal inflammation. Finally, exposure of larvae to MP-BaP up-regulated the expression of genes associated with the BaP response pathway, while negatively impacting the expression of genes involved in oxidative stress. Altogether, these data suggest that long-term exposure to pristine/contaminated microplastics not only jeopardizes fish growth, reproduction performance, and skeletal health, but also causes intergenerational effects.

The zebrafish operculum: A powerful system to assess osteogenic bioactivities of molecules with pharmacological and toxicological relevance

Bone disorders affect millions of people worldwide and available therapeutics have a limited efficacy, often presenting undesirable side effects. As such, there is a need for novel molecules with bone anabolic properties. The aim of this work was to establish a rapid, reliable and reproducible method to screen for molecules with osteogenic activities, using the zebrafish operculum to assess bone formation. Exposure parameters were optimized through morphological analysis of the developing operculum of larvae exposed to calcitriol, a molecule with known pro-osteogenic properties. An exposure of 3days initiated at 3days post-fertilization was sufficient to stimulate operculum formation, while not affecting survival or development of the larvae. Dose-dependent pro- and anti-osteogenic effects of calcitriol and cobalt chloride, respectively, demonstrated the sensitivity of the method and the suitability of the operculum system. A double transgenic reporter line expressing fluorescent markers for early and mature osteoblasts was used to gain insights into the effects of calcitriol and cobalt at the cellular level, with osteoblast maturation shown to be stimulated and inhibited, respectively, in the operculum of exposed fish. The zebrafish operculum represents a consistent, robust and rapid screening system for the discovery of novel molecules with osteogenic, anti-osteoporotic or osteotoxic activity.

ZFBONE: An ImageJ toolset for semi-automatic analysis of zebrafish bone structures

The last decade has seen an increased interest in the discovery of compounds with bone anabolic activity to treat skeletal disorders such as osteoporosis and increase the well-being of patients. Due to the many technical advantages over classical rodent systems, zebrafish (Danio rerio) has been increasingly used in screening pipelines, in particular those aiming at identifying osteoactive compounds with pharmacological potential. Because compound osteoactivity is mostly determined in zebrafish through the morphometric analysis of bone structures, image analysis, rather than screening assay implementation, molecule availability and image acquisition, represents a bottleneck to the screening throughput. The absence of auto/semi-automatic tools for image analysis of fish bone structures is also a limitation to a broader usage of zebrafish screening pipelines. We present here ZFBONE (for ZebraFish BONE), an open-source, freely available, user-friendly, rapid and reliable toolset, aiming at accelerating image analysis by automating the morphometric assessment of zebrafish bone structures, but also at increasing data accuracy by reducing operator bias. Tools included in ZFBONE allow users to assess, from 2D images, morphometric parameters of several bone structures (e.g. operculum, caudal fin rays and scales) but also the extent and the intensity of bone-specific colorations. ZFBONE has been developed using the open-source ImageJ software, to make it available to the whole zebrafish research community, but also to have it easily modifiable according to user demands. ZFBONE can also be used toward the standardization of zebrafish screening protocols in academia and industry.

New insights into benzo[⍺]pyrene osteotoxicity in zebrafish

Persistent and ubiquitous organic pollutants, such as the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon benzo[⍺]pyrene (BaP), represent a major threat to aquatic organisms and human health. Beside some well-documented adverse effects on the development and reproduction of aquatic organisms, BaP was recently shown to affect fish bone formation and skeletal development through mechanisms that remain poorly understood. In this work, zebrafish bone-related in vivo assays were used to evaluate the osteotoxic effects of BaP during bone development and regeneration. Acute exposure of zebrafish larvae to BaP from 3 to 6 days post-fertilization (dpf) induced a dose-dependent reduction of the opercular bone size and a depletion of osteocalcin-positive cells, indicating an effect on osteoblast maturation. Chronic exposure of zebrafish larvae to BaP from 3 to 30 dpf affected the development of the axial skeleton and increased the incidence and severity of skeletal deformities. In young adults, BaP affected the mineralization of newly formed fin rays and scales, and impaired fin ray patterning and scale shape, through mechanisms that involve an imbalanced bone remodeling. Gene expression analyses indicated that BaP induced the activation of xenobiotic and metabolic pathways, while negatively impacting extracellular matrix formation and organization. Interestingly, BaP exposure positively regulated inflammation markers in larvae and increased the recruitment of neutrophils. A direct interaction between neutrophils and bone extracellular matrix or bone forming cells was observed in vivo, suggesting a role for neutrophils in the mechanisms underlying BaP osteotoxicity. Our work provides novel data on the cellular and molecular players involved in BaP osteotoxicity and brings new insights into a possible role for neutrophils in inflammatory bone reduction.

Osteotoxicity of 3-methylcholanthrene in fish

Many chemicals produced by human activities end up in the aquatic ecosystem causing adverse developmental and reproductive effects in aquatic organisms. There is evidence that some anthropogenic chemicals disturb bone formation and skeletal development but the lack of suitable in vitro and in vivo systems for testing has hindered the identification of underlying mechanisms of osteotoxicity. Several fish systems - an in vitro cell system to study extracellular matrix mineralization and in vivo systems to evaluate bone formation and skeletogenesis - were combined to collect data on the osteotoxic activity of 3-methylcholanthrene (3-MC), a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. Anti-mineralogenic effects, increased incidence of skeletal deformities and reduced bone formation and regeneration were observed in zebrafish upon exposure to 3-MC. Pathway reporter array revealed the role of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor 2 (Ahr2) in the mechanisms underlying 3-MC osteotoxicity in mineralogenic cell lines. Analysis of gene expression in zebrafish larvae confirmed the role of Ahr2 in the signaling of 3-MC toxicity. It also indicated a possible complementary action of the pregnane X receptor (Pxr) in the regulation of genes involved in bone cell activity and differentiation but also in xenobiotic metabolism. Data reported here demonstrated the osteotoxicity of 3-MC but also confirmed the suitability of fish systems to gain insights into the toxic mechanisms of compounds affecting skeletal and bone formation.

Screening of Mineralogenic and Osteogenic Compounds in Zebrafish—Tools to Improve Assay Throughput and Data Accuracy

Bone disorders affect millions of people worldwide and treatments currently available often produce undesirable secondary effects or have limited efficacy. It is therefore of the utmost interest for patients to develop more efficient drugs with reduced off-target activities. In the long process of drug development, screening and preclinical validation have recently gained momentum with the increased use of zebrafish as a model organism to study pathological processes related to human bone disorders, and the development of zebrafish high-throughput screening assays to identify bone anabolic compounds. In this review, we provided a comprehensive overview of the literature on zebrafish bone-related assays and evaluated their performance towards an integration into screening pipelines for the discovery of mineralogenic/osteogenic compounds. Tools available to standardize fish housing and feeding procedures, synchronize embryo production, and automatize specimen sorting and image acquisition/analysis toward faster and more accurate screening outputs were also presented.

Antioxidant, Mineralogenic and Osteogenic Activities of Spartina alterniflora and Salicornia fragilis Extracts Rich in Polyphenols

Osteoporosis is an aging-related disease and a worldwide health issue. Current therapeutics have failed to reduce the prevalence of osteoporosis in the human population, thus the discovery of compounds with bone anabolic properties that could be the basis of next generation drugs is a priority. Marine plants contain a wide range of bioactive compounds and the presence of osteoactive phytochemicals was investigated in two halophytes collected in Brittany (France): the invasive Spartina alterniflora and the native Salicornia fragilis. Two semi-purified fractions, prepared through liquid-liquid extraction, were assessed for phenolic and flavonoid contents, and for the presence of antioxidant, mineralogenic and osteogenic bioactivities. Ethyl acetate fraction (EAF) was rich in phenolic compounds and exhibited the highest antioxidant activity. While S. fragilis EAF only triggered a weak proliferative effect in vitro, S. alterniflora EAF potently induced extracellular matrix mineralization (7-fold at 250 μg/mL). A strong osteogenic effect was also observed in vivo using zebrafish operculum assay (2.5-fold at 10 μg/mL in 9-dpf larvae). Results indicate that polyphenol rich EAF of S. alterniflora has both antioxidant and bone anabolic activities. As an invasive species, this marine plant may represent a sustainable source of molecules for therapeutic applications in bone disorders.

ZEB316: A Small Stand-Alone Housing System to Study Microplastics in Small Teleosts

Many anthropogenic chemicals and plastic debris end up in the aquatic ecosystem worldwide, representing a major concern for the environment and human health. Small teleosts, such as zebrafish (Danio rerio) and Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes), offer significant advantages over classical animal models and are currently used as first-line organisms to assess environmental risks associated with many aquatic toxicants. Toxicological studies require the use of inert materials and controlled conditions. Yet, none of the available commercialized systems is adequate to assess the toxic effect of microplastics, because they contain components made of plastic polymers that may release micrometric plastic particles, leach manufacturing compounds, or adsorb chemicals. The ZEB316 stand-alone housing system presented in this study is meant to be a cost-effective and easy-to-built solution to perform state-of-the-art toxicological studies. It is built with inert and corrosion-resistant materials and provides good housing conditions through efficient recirculation and filtration systems. Assessment of water parameters and fish growth performance showed that the ZEB316 provides housing conditions comparable to those available from commercial housing systems.