Toxicity of o-phenylphenol on craniofacial cartilage development through ROS-induced oxidative stress in zebrafish embryos

O-phenylphenol (OPP), a commonly used antiseptic and bactericide, has some threat to human health and the environment. Environmental exposure to OPP may cause potential health hazards in animals and humans, and the developmental toxicity of OPP needs to be assessed. Therefore, the zebrafish model was used to evaluate the ecological impact of OPP, and the zebrafish craniofacial skeleton is mainly derived from the cranial neural crest stem cells (NCCs). In this study, zebrafish were exposed to 1,2,4 mg/L OPP from10 to 80 h post-fertilization (hpf). Our study observed that OPP could cause the early disorder of craniofacial pharyngeal arch development and lead to behavioural abnormalities. In addition, qPCR and enzyme activity revealed that OPP exposure would induce the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative stress. And proliferation cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) indicated that the proliferation of NCCs was reduced. The mRNA expression of genes related to migration, proliferation, and differentiation of NCCs has changed significantly under OPP exposure. Astaxanthin (AST), a widely used antioxidant, could partially rescue the craniofacial cartilage development exposed to OPP. The results showed improvements in oxidative stress, gene transcription, NCCs proliferation, and protein expression in zebrafish, suggesting that OPP may reduce antioxidant capacity and subsequently inhibit migration, proliferation, and differentiation of the NCCs. In conclusion, our study found that OPP may produce reactive oxygen species, leading to developmental toxicity in zebrafish craniofacial cartilage.