Oxidative and DNA Damage Potential of Colemanite on Zebrafish: Brain, Liver and Blood

Abstract

Recently, boron has been used in animal feeding due to its significant biological roles. In this study, the action mechanism of colemanite (COL), a commercially important borate mineral, was aimed to investigate via evaluating parameters related to oxidative alterations on the brain, liver and blood tissues of zebrafish. For this purpose, zebrafish were exposed to different doses of COL (5, 10 and 20 mg/L) in a static test apparatus for 96 hours. Multiple biochemical analysis including determination of DNA damage (8-OHdG), apoptosis (Caspase-3), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), myeloperoxidase (MPO), paraoxonase (PON), arylesterase (AR) and lipid peroxidation (MDA) levels were performed in brain and liver tissues for assessing oxidative responses. In addition to micronucleus (MN) assay was performed in obtained blood tissues. The results indicated that low doses of COL supported antioxidant system and did not lead to oxidative stress in zebrafish brain and liver. Again, our results showed colemanite did not cause DNA damage or apoptosis at all tested concentrations. Besides the statistically insignificant changes (P>0.05) of MN rates of erythrocytes between the control and experimental groups revealed the non-genotoxic feature of COL on zebrafish. In conclusion, boron compounds especially COL can be used safely and provide positive impacts on aquatic environments.