Reproductive toxicity and underlying mechanisms of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate in nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

作     者：Jingjing Li Man Qu Mei Wang Ying Yue Zhaofang Chen Ran Liu Yuanqing Bu Yunhui Li Jingjing Li;Man Qu;Mei Wang;Ying Yue;Zhaofang Chen;Ran Liu;Yuanqing Bu;Yunhui Li

作者机构：Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine EngineeringMinistry of EducationSchool of Public HealthSoutheast UniversityNanjing 210009China State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control&Resource ReuseSchool of the EnvironmentNanjing UniversityNanjing 210023China Nanjing Institute of Environmental ScienceKey Laboratory of Pesticide Environmental Assessment and Pollution ControlMinistry of Ecology and EnvironmentNanjing 210042China 

出 版 物：《Journal of Environmental Sciences》 (环境科学学报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2021年第33卷第7期

页      面：1-10页

核心收录：

学科分类：07[理学] 09[农学] 0903[农学-农业资源与环境] 0713[理学-生态学] 

基　　金：supported by the Fundamental Research Fund of Central Public Welfare Research Institutions in 2019(Innovation team project of new approach and application on substitution toxicology of environmental hormone substances) 

主　　题：DEHP Brood sizes Autophagy Reactive oxygen species Superoxide dismutase Glutathione peroxidase 

摘      要：DEHP(di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate) is an endocrine disruptor commonly found in plastic products that has been associated with reproduction alterations, but the effect of DEHP on toxicity is still widely unknown. Using DEHP concentrations of 10, 1, and 0.1 mg/L, we showed that DEHP reduced the reproductive capacity of Caenorhabditis elegans after 72 hr. of exposure. DEHP exposure reduced the reproductive capacity in terms of decreased brood sizes, egg hatchability(0.1, 1 and 10 mg/L), and egg-laying rate(1 and 10 mg/L), and increased numbers of fertilized eggs in the uterus(1 and 10 mg/L). DEHP also caused damage to gonad development. DEHP decreased the total number of germline cells, and decreased the relative area of the gonad arm of all exposure groups, with worms in the 1 mg/L DEHP exposure group having the minimum gonad arm area. Additionally, DEHP caused a significant concentration-dependent increase in the expression of unc-86. Autophagy and ROS contributed to the enhancement of DEHP toxicity in reducing reproductive capacity, and glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase were activated as the antioxidant defense in this study. Hence, we found that DEHP has a dual effect on nematodes. Higher concentration(10 mg/L) DEHP can inhibit the expression of autophagy genes( atg-18, atg-7, bec-1, lgg-1 and unc-51), and lower concentrations(0.1 and 1 mg/L) can promote the expression of autophagy genes. Our data highlight the potential environmental risk of DEHP in inducing reproductive toxicity toward the gonad development and reproductive capacity of environmental organisms.