Physiological, Developmental, and Biomarker Responses of Zebrafish Embryos to Sub-Lethal Exposure of Bendiocarb

Abstract

Bendiocarb is a broad-spectrum insecticide recommended for malaria control by the World Health Organization (WHO). Still, bendiocarb poses a toxic risk to populations of nontargeted aquatic organisms. Thus, our study was aimed to evaluate the sub-lethal effects of bendiocarb exposure on zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos by assessing of physiological, developmental, and biochemical parameters. Bendiocarb-induced adverse effects on embryonic development, larval growth, heart rate, changes in phase II detoxifying enzyme glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activity, oxidative stress-related enzyme activities (superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT)), and the damage-linked biomarker lipid peroxidation (LPO) in early life stage zebrafish were investigated. Our results highlight that the selected nonlethal concentrations (96 h median lethal concentration in this study was 32.52 mg/L−1) of bendiocarb inflicted adverse effects resulting in embryo deformities (96 h EC50 = 2.30 mg L−1), reduced body- and notochord length (above 0.75 and 0.39 mg L−1 bendiocarb concentrations at 96 hpf, respectively), oxidative stress, and altered heart rate (above 0.4 mg L−1 at 48 hpf) in the studied model system.