Acetochlor affects zebrafish ovarian development by producing estrogen effects and inducing oxidative stress

Acetochlor is one of the most widely used pesticides worldwide and widely distributed in the water environment. However, studies on the reproductive influence of acetochlor are still limited. To investigate the impact and potential mechanism of acetochlor on fish ovarian development, zebrafish were utilized as experiment models. The ovarian histology, ovarian development-related genes, and plasma oxidative stress-related indexes were investigated following acetochlor (at nominal concentration 1, 10, and 100 μg/L) exposure for 7 and 21 days. Results showed that low-dose acetochlor had estrogen effect and induced zebrafish estradiol (E₂) and ovarian vitellogenin (Vtg) synthesis and promoted ovarian development, while long-term exposure to higher doses of acetochlor reduced the ability of ovarian resistance to oxidative stress and destroyed the development of the ovary. Moreover, bone morphogenetic protein 15 (bmp15) and growth differentiation factor 9 (gdf9) were also involved in the influence of acetochlor on the ovarian development of zebrafish.