Insights into the modes of action of tritium on zebrafish, Danio rerio, early-life stages, using proteomic analyses

Tritium is an ubiquist radionuclide which can be found in the environment due to natural and anthropogenic activities, particularly in aquatic ecosystems. In this context, tritium effects on aquatic species such as fish have to be characterized. HTO (tritiated water) effects were therefore investigated in zebrafish, Danio rerio, a common model in toxicology and ecotoxicology with a fully sequenced genome. Experiments were conducted on early life stages. Larvae were exposed to 0.4 and 4 mGy/h of HTO until 10 days post fertilization. Tritium internalization was quantified and effects were investigated using a proteomic analysis. The global analysis of the proteome was performed after protein extraction at 7 and 10 dpf on zebrafish eggs exposed from 3 hpf to 10 dpf.