Characterization of Zearalenone-Induced Hepatotoxicity and its Mechanisms by Transcriptomics in Zebrafish Model

Zearalenone is a mycotoxin produced by several species of Fusarium fungi, which contaminates crop and cereal products worldwide. It mainly has estrogenic, immunotoxic and xenogenic effects on various organisms. Though its hepatotoxicity has been reported by few studies, the underlying mechanisms are yet to be investigated. This study aimed to comprehensively evaluate the hepatotoxic effects of zearalenone and its molecular mechanism in the zebrafish model system. First, we found that zearalenone exposure can specifically cause liver injury, as evidenced by reduced liver size, decreased liver-specific fluorescence, increased AST activity, delayed yolk sac absorption, and lipid accumulation. Then, RNA-seq was performed using dissected zebrafish fry liver. The experiment included a control group, 2000 and 4000 ng/mL zearalenone exposure group. Each treatment group had 3 biological replicates. Each replicate experiment consists of 80-100 pooled fish livers.