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Cyanobacteria are prevalent in the freshwater environment, reaching critical mass in harmful algal blooms. These organisms produce a variety of toxins including endotoxins such as lipopolysaccharides (LPS), which have been previously shown to decrease glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activity in zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos. GST plays a vital role in detoxification response during oxidative stress and provides a first line of defense after toxic heavy metal insult, before increased metallothionein expression. Although some attention has focused on cyanobacterial LPS, little research has focused on effects of concurrent exposures with other toxicants. Because cyanobacterial LPS can alter detoxification enzymes including GST, we hypothesized that cyanobacterial LPS could potentiate metal toxicity. This study investigated the effects of LPS from two cyanobacterial species, Lyngbya spp. and Microcystis aeruginosa, on cadmium toxicity in zebrafish embryos. Forty-eight-hour CdCl(2) LC(50) values showed that coexposure of cadmium and Lyngbya LPS or Microcystis LPS resulted in significantly increased cadmium toxicity in comparison with cadmium alone. However, increased cadmium toxicity was not due to decreased GST activity as initially hypothesized. In concurrent Microcystis LPS-cadmium exposures, GST activity was significantly increased in comparison with control embryos at all time points and cadmium concentrations sampled. Concurrent Lyngbya LPS-cadmium exposures also resulted in increased GST activity at most exposure concentrations. These results indicate that regardless of mechanism, cyanobacterial LPS can potentiate the toxic effects of heavy metals. This represents a significant risk for aquatic organisms exposed to combinations of LPS and metals in the environment., (Copyright © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Waterborne 17alpha-ethinylestradiol (EE(2)) alters hormone-mediated biological indicators in fish. These alterations include increased plasma vitellogenin, increased intersex individuals, decreased egg and sperm production, reduced gamete quality, and complete feminization of male fish. Together, these observations implicate aquatic estrogens in a broad range of detrimental effects on fish reproduction and fitness. In addition to impairing reproductive processes, EE(2) is also a strong promoter of hepatic tumor formation. Since many ubiquitous, aquatic hepatocarcinogens form DNA adducts that are preferentially repaired by nucleotide excision repair (NER) processes, we hypothesized that EE(2) may exert co-carcinogenic effects by reducing an organisms ability to repair DNA adducts via this mechanism. The present study used fluorescence-based quantitative RT-PCR to examine effects of environmentally relevant concentrations of the semisynthetic estrogen, EE(2), on hepatic nucleotide excision repair (NER) gene expression. Adult male and female zebrafish (Danio rerio) were exposed to 1ng/L, 10ng/L or 100ng/L concentrations of EE(2), or to a solvent control (0.05%, v/v ethanol), for 7 days with static water renewal every 24h. Effectiveness of EE(2) exposure in the liver was confirmed by examining hepatic expression of two estrogen-responsive biomarkers, vitellogenin-1 and cytochrome P450-1A1 (CYP1A1). Quantitative analysis confirmed that exposure to 100ng/L EE(2) caused significant decreases in transcript abundance of several hepatic NER genes in male zebrafish, including XPC (>17-fold), XPA (>7-fold), XPD (>8-fold), and XPF (>8-fold). Adult female zebrafish exhibited a four-fold decreased in XPC mRNA abundance at all exposure concentrations. Decreased mRNA abundance of NER genes was also seen to a lesser degree at lower concentrations of EE(2). Adult male zebrafish showed greater reduction of hepatic NER transcript levels than their female counterparts, which is consistent with the sexually dimorphic incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in many species. Decreased transcript levels of NER genes have been shown to be an important epidemiological marker for increased cancer risk and decreased repair capacity in humans.