Comparison of modes of action between fish and zebrafish embryo toxicity for baseline, less inert, reactive and specifically-acting compounds

The mode of action (MOA) plays a key role in the risk assessment of pollutants in water. Although fish is a key model organism used in the risk assessment of pollutants in water, the MOAs have not been compared between fish and embryo toxicity for classified compounds. In this paper, regression analysis was carried out for fish and embryo toxicities against the calculated molecular descriptors and MOAs were evaluated from toxicity ratio. The toxicity significantly related with the chemical hydrophobicity for baseline and less inert compounds, respectively, indicates that these two classes of compounds share the same MOAs between fish and embryos. Comparison of the toxicity ratios shows that reactive compounds exhibit excess toxicity to both fish and embryos. These compounds can react covalently with biologically target molecules through nucleophilic addition reactions, Michael addition oxidation, or amination. Comparing with baseline, less inert and reactive compounds, many specifically-acting compounds have strong docking capacity with protein molecules. Some specifically-acting compounds, such as fungicides, have very similar toxic effect to both fish and embryos. However, insecticides are more toxic to fish than embryos; herbicides and medications are more toxic to embryos than fish. Differences in the interactions of chemicals with target molecules or bioconcentration potentials between fish and embryos may result in the differences in toxic effects. There are some factors that influence the identification of MOAs, such as quality of toxicity data, bioavailability and ionization. These factors should be considered in the identification of MOAs in the risk assessment of organic pollutants.