Effects of three SSRIs (fluoxetine, citalopram, sertraline) exposure on brain tissue cells of zebrafish

This study employed scRNA-seq to systematically analyze cellular proportions, differential gene expression, and the expression of enriched functional pathways in zebrafish brain tissues following SSRI exposure. Results revealed that distinct SSRI compounds disrupted core regulatory pathways of the serotonin neurotransmitter system through specific mechanisms, leading to significant gene expression heterogeneity in zebrafish brain cell populations. This research comprehensively elucidated the impacts of environmentally relevant concentration SSRI exposure on zebrafish brain cell populations, providing novel insights into the neurotoxic mechanisms of SSRIs in aquatic organisms. After exposing adult zebrafish to multiple SSRIs, their brain tissues were homogenized, and a single-cell suspension was isolated via density gradient centrifugation. The single-cell suspension was then loaded onto a microfluidic chip, and magnetic bead sorting was applied for scRNA-seq analysis.