Perfluorooctanoic acid toxicity on zebrafish embryonic development and mechanism exploration with single-cell RNA sequencing

The aquatic environment is an important site for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) deposit and induced a high risk for aquatic organisms. Nevertheless, the current toxicity assessment was rarely reported the heart effect of PFOA. The exact mode of action and its resulting heterogeneity toxicological effects in aquatic organisms also remain largely unknown. In this study, the heart effects were investigated with a series of assays. The scRNA-seq showed nine cells populations were significantly altered with PFOA exposure. Heart was the mostly influenced cells and the function of cardiac muscle contraction, gas transport and oxygen binding was significantly changed. Moreover, the hatching gland cells, macrophages and lens cells were also significantly influenced with the altered function of apoptosis, endocrine and nervous and immune system. In addition, a significantly decreased swimming behavior and heart morphogenesis were verified. Single cell RNA sequencing were adopted to learn the heart effect of zebrafish embryos followed exposure PFOA.