Primary Study Of Benzotriazole's Toxicities To Oryzias Melastigma And Chlamys Nobilis

Benzotriazole is a widespreadly used industrial chemical which has used in many applications, such as corrosion inhibitor, aircraft deicing, antifreeze fluids and dishwasher detergents. As its high water solubility and high persistent in the environment, it exists and accumulates in water, including rivers and lakes, and many information about its occurrence in freshwater has been reported. However, there are extremely rare data about its environmental concentration in seawater and its chronic toxicity on marine animals. Its derivatives have been found in the sea. For example, in the study of Haruhiko et al. (2009), they found that benzotriazole UV stabilizers in coastal and river sediments around the Ariake Sea, at concentrations in the range of 7.9-720 ng/g (dry weight basis), and indicated that benzotriazole UV stabilizers are persistent and bioaccumulative in the marine food-chain.For the purpose of detecting the effects of benzotriazoles on marine animals, we choose benzotriazole as a representative of benzotriazoles and choose marine medaka as a representative of marine animals. After exposure to 0.01, 0.1, and 1 mg/L of benzotriazole, the expression levels of cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP1A1) and vitellogenin (VTG) was investigated in liver, gills and intestine of both male and female marine medaka, and the expression levels of cytochrome P450 19a (CYP19a) was investigated in ovary of female marine medaka. The results showed that the expression levels of CYP1A1 were down-regulated in liver, gills and intestine of both male and female marine medaka, and VTG was highly expressed in liver, gills and intestine of both male and female marine medaka, and CYP19a was up-regulated in ovary. These results of three biomarkers suggested that benzotriazole has potential to inhibit the CYP1A1 activity and cause estrogenic effects。In order to confirm these results and study more deeply on other toxicities of this chemical, we choose scallops as experimental animal and elongated the exposure period. Our research objects are including: Gonado-somatic index and determination of gonad and haemolymph vitellogenin for endocrine disruption study; EROD for cytochrome P450 activity study; CAT and MDA for toxic stress study; and finally, AChE for neurotoxicology study. The results showed benzotriazole has estrogenic effects on scallops, inhibits the EROD activity, results in toxic stress but no effects on AChE activity.More studies about the mechanisms of its estrogenic effects, and the toxicity of benzotriazoles on marine animals should be programmed.