Danio rerio Transcriptome or Gene expression. Danio rerio

Fluorosis is a worldwide public health problem, and the heart is an important target organ of fluorosis. However, studies on the toxicological mechanism of its embryonic development are limited. This study assessed the acute toxicity of sodium fluoride to zebrafish embryos by detecting heart rate and malformation upon exposure to sodium fluoride. Through transcriptome sequencing, 1354 differential gene expression (DGE) were detected in the sodium fluoride (200 mg/L) treated groups, including 1253 up-regulated genes and 101 down-regulated genes. GO functional and KEGG pathway analyses based on DGE showed that cardiac related pathways, such as actin cytoskeleton regulation (rac1a, rac2, pak2a and cdc42l), Jak-STAT (stat3, socs3b and socs2), PI3K-Akt (hsp90b1, hsp90aa1.1 and rac1a), Ras (rac1a, rac2, cdc42l and pak2a) were activated in sodium fluoride-exposed group. In conclusion, this study revealed the strong cardiac teratogenicity and developmental toxicity of sodium fluoride in zebrafish embryos, as well as the underlying mechanism of fluoride-induced cardiac morphological and functional abnormalities.