Cinnamaldehyde causes developmental neurotoxicity in zebrafish<i>via</i>the oxidative stress pathway that is rescued by astaxanthin
Kaihui Chang, Nan Zeng, Yonghe Ding, Xiangzhong Zhao, Chengwen Gao, Yafang Li, Haoxu Wang, Xiaoyu Liu, Yujuan Niu, Yuanchao Sun, Teng Li, Yongyong Shi, Chuanhong Wu, Zhiqiang Li
Abstract
. In this study, we investigated the developmental neurotoxicity of cinnamaldehyde in zebrafish and preliminarily explored its underlying mechanism. Cinnamaldehyde causes developmental neurotoxicity in zebrafish, as evidenced by the damage to ventricular structures, eye malformations, shortened body length, trunk curvature, decreased neuronal fluorescence, and pericardial oedema. Moreover, it can induce abnormal behaviour and gene expression in zebrafish. After treatment with the oxidative stress inhibitor astaxanthin, the behaviour and abnormal gene expression were reversed. All of these data demonstrated that the developmental neurotoxicity of cinnamaldehyde might be attributed to oxidative stress. In addition, this study also confirmed that zebrafish is a reliable model for toxicity studies.