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Ecotoxicity Risk of Low-Dose Methylmercury Exposure to Caenorhabditis elegans: Multigenerational Toxicity and Population Discrepancy
- Source :
- Chemical Research in Toxicology. 34:1114-1123
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- American Chemical Society (ACS), 2021.
-
Abstract
- Methylmercury (MeHg) is a common organic form of mercury in water, which has been linked to several forms of biological toxicity. However, studies on the ecotoxicity risk of long-term exposure to low-dose MeHg are insufficient for the assessment of environmental safety. In the present study, the effects of MeHg on multiple generations (P0-F3) and population of Caenorhabditis elegans were investigated under long-term, low-dose exposure. We investigated the multigenerational toxicity of MeHg by analyzing reproductive and developmental indicators. According to our results, exposure to 100 nM MeHg had little effect on the parental generation (P0) but caused serious reproductive toxicity in the offspring (F1-F3), and the effect of MeHg was aggravated with each passing generation. The genes related to apoptosis and DNA damage were upregulated in the F3 generation. Pearson correlation analysis showed that the changes in these genes were closely related to the apoptosis of gonadal cells. Furthermore, chronic exposure to MeHg (from 100 to 1000 nM group) caused a sharp decline in population size and triggered the "bag of worms" phenotype. Genes related to vulvar development were downregulated in the F3 generation after treatment with 100 nM MeHg. These data suggest that long-term low-dose MeHg exposure adversely affected C. elegans and its offspring and triggered multigenerational toxicity and population discrepancy.
- Subjects :
- 0303 health sciences
education.field_of_study
Offspring
Population
Physiology
General Medicine
010501 environmental sciences
Biology
Toxicology
01 natural sciences
03 medical and health sciences
chemistry.chemical_compound
Dose–response relationship
chemistry
Toxicity
Ecotoxicology
Ecotoxicity
Reproductive toxicity
education
Methylmercury
030304 developmental biology
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15205010 and 0893228X
- Volume :
- 34
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Chemical Research in Toxicology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........20532d1fa5679cbbc7a2b9c6c8e8e5c6