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Updated: Jul 30, 2026

Long-term Behavioral and Reproductive Consequences of Embryonic Exposure to Low-dose Toxicants
Published on: March 6, 2018
Life-time exposure to decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) caused transgenerational epigenetic alterations of thyroid
Yumiao Sun1, Xiaochen Wang2, Wei Guo3
1Key Laboratory of Breeding Biotechnology and Sustainable Aquaculture, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
Abstract:
Because of its ubiquitous occurrence in the environment, decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE), a novel brominated flame retardant, has been widely concerned. However, its transgenerational thyroid disrupting potential and intricate mechanism are barely explored. Therefore, zebrafish embryos were exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations of DBDPE (0, 0.1, 1 and 10 nM) until sexual maturity. The results indicated that life-time exposure to DBDPE caused anxiety-like behavior in unexposed offspring. Furthermore, the changing of thyroid hormones as well as transcriptional and DNA methylation level in the promoter region of related genes were evaluated. The thyroid disruptions observed in F1 larvae were primarily attributed to excessive transfer of thyroid hormone from F0 adults to F1 eggs. Conversely, the disruptions in F2 larvae were likely due to inherited epigenetic changes, specifically hypomethylation of crh and hypermethylation of ugt1ab, passed down from the F1 generation. Additionally, our results revealed sex-specific responses of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis in adult zebrafish. Furthermore, thyroid disruptions observed in unexposed offspring were more likely inherited from their mothers. The current results prompted our in-depth understanding of the multi- and transgenerational toxicity by DBDPE, and also highlighted the need to consider their adverse effects on persistent and inheritable epigenetic changes in future research on emerging pollutants.
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