Hepatic antioxidative responses to PCDPSs and estimated short-term biotoxicity in freshwater fish

This study evaluated the short-term toxicity of polychlorinated diphenylsulfides (PCDPSs) in freshwater fish. Laboratory experiments were performed to determine the oxidative stress and antioxidative responses of 12 different types of PCDPSs in the liver of goldfish, Carassius auratus. Fish were injected with increasing concentrations (0.1, 1, 10, 100 μg/kg body weight for various PCDPSs and 1, 10, 100 mg/kg for diphenylsulfides (DPS)) of test compounds for 12h, with one group assigned as the control. We simultaneously evaluated the time-dependent effects of PCDPSs on the antioxidant defense system, using Tris-, Penta- and Hepta-CDPS. Fish were acutely injected with either 10 μg/kg of such PCDPSs or corn oil alone (control), and then liver samples were collected at 0.5, 1, 2, 3 and 5d for analysis of antioxidant content. Changes in the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and in the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) were detected, suggesting that PCDPSs exhibit potential biotoxicity. In addition, our data indicated that PCDPS toxicity varies with the degree of substitution and the position of substitution attached to two benzene rings, results that were also partly supported by the time-dependent effects elicited by the Tris-, Penta- and Hepta-CDPSs. In particular, our results indicate that Penta- and Hexa-CDPSs may act as highly toxic contaminants that exhibit striking enzymatic inhibitory activity. Furthermore, our results suggest that altered levels of antioxidant enzymes, including SOD and CAT, along with MDA, may serve as potential biomarkers of PCDPS contamination.