Fomesafen is widely used in agriculture and can be detected in the environment and agricultural products. Research on the developmental toxicity of fomesafen in animals is currently very limited. Here, we used zebrafish as an animal model to evaluate the toxicity of fomesafen in developing aquatic vertebrates and higher animals. From 6h to 72h following fertilization, exposure of zebrafish embryos to 5, 10 and 20 mg/L of fomesafen resulted in pericardial edema, a reduction in heart rate, shortening of body length, and yolk sac edema. Fomesafen reduced the number of immune cells such as neutrophils and macrophages, increased the expression of a number of inflammatory factors, induced the up-regulation of the oxidative stress response and apoptosis, and disrupted the activity of enzymes related to nerve development, which affected the motility of the embryos. In conclusion, the results provide new evidence for the comprehensive assessment of fomesafen toxicity in aquatic vertebrates.
Keywords: Cell apoptosis; Developmental toxicity; Fomesafen; Oxidative stress; Zebrafish.
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