A mixture of chemicals found in human amniotic fluid disrupts brain gene expression and behavior in Xenopus laevis

We hypothesized that embryonic exposure to a mixture of chemicals (containing phenols, phthalates, pesticides, heavy metals, and perfluorinated, polychlorinated, and polybrominated compounds) identified as commonly found in the human amniotic fluid (as calculated in Fini et al., ) could lead to altered brain development. We assessed its effect on TH signaling and neuro-development in an amphibian model (Xenopus laevis) highly sensitive to thyroid disruption. Fertilized eggs were exposed for eight days to either TH (thyroxine, T4 10 nM) or the amniotic mixture (at the actual concentration) until reaching stage NF47, where we analyzed gene expres-sion in the brains of exposed tadpoles using both RT-qPCR and RNA sequencing. Overall design: Comparative gene expression profiling analysis of RNA-seq data for brains of exposed tapoles to TH or the amniotic mixture compare to the control.