Polystyrene nanoplastics disrupt hepatic vitellogenin metabolism and impairs the reproduction process in female zebrafish

Abstract For this study, a number of 240 adult healthy female zebrafish were divided into 12 tanks (20 fish per tank) and exposed to 0 (control, T0), 0.1 (T1), 1 (T2), and 10 (T3) mg/L synthesized polystyrene nanoplastics (PS-NPs, Nanoplastic synthesized in the chemistry laboratory of Faculty of Basic Sciences at Zabul University) for 4 weeks. At the end of the experiment, exposure to PS-NPs had no significant affect the survival of female zebrafish (p > 0.05). A significant decrease of hepatic vitellogenin (Vtg) were seen in female zebrafish exposed to PSNPs (p < 0.05). The level of 17β estradiol (E2) and testosterone (T) were notably declined in female zebrafish of all PS-NPs-exposed groups (p < 0.05). Glucose was notably increased in female zebra fish of all PS-NPs-exposed treaments (p < 0.05). There was a significant increase in cortisol levels in all PS-NPs-exposed treaments (p < 0.05). No significant diffrenece was seen in lactate levels between different treatments (p > 0.05). A significant enhancement in aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was observed in female zebra fish of all PS-NPs-exposed treaments than the control (p < 0.05). The present results demonstrate that PS-NPs impairs the reproduction process so that none of the female zebrafish broodstock exposed to different doses of PS-NPs have not spawn.