Mycotoxins induce developmental toxicity and behavioural aberrations in zebrafish larvae.

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by varieties of fungi that contaminate food and feed resources and are capable of inducing a wide range of toxicity. In the current study, we investigated developmental and behavioural toxicity in zebrafish larvae after exposure to six different mycotoxins; ochratoxin A (OTA), type A trichothecenes mycotoxin (T-2 toxin), type B trichothecenes mycotoxin (deoxynivalenol - DON), and zearalenone (ZEN) and its metabolites alpha-zearalenol (α-ZOL) and beta-zearalenol (ß-ZOL). Developmental defects, hatching time, and survival were monitored until 96 h post fertilisation (hpf). The EC50, LC50, and IC50 values were calculated. Subsequently, to assess behavioural toxicity, new sets of embryos were exposed to a series of non-lethal doses within the range of environmental and/or developmental concern. Results indicated that all the tested mycotoxins were toxic, they all induced developmental defects, and with the exception of OTA, all affected hatching time. Behavioural effects were only observed following exposure to OTA and ZEN and its metabolites, α ZOL and ß ZOL. These results demonstrate that mycotoxins are teratogenic and can influence behaviour in a vertebrate model.

Handling and Treatment of Male European Eels (Anguilla anguilla) for Hormonal Maturation and Sperm Cryopreservation.

During the last years, several research groups have been working on the development and improvement of new protocols for the European eel handling and maturation. As of yet, weekly injections of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) have proved to maturate males after just 5-6 weeks of treatment, producing high volumes of high-quality sperm during several weeks. In addition, sperm cryopreservation protocols using different extenders, cryoprotectants and cooling and thawing times have been previously described for European eel. Here, we show that Tanaka´s extender solution can be directly used for fertilization or for cryopreservation, making unnecessary the usage of different types of solutions and dilutions. Furthermore, the use of methanol as a cryoprotectant makes this protocol easy to use as methanol has low toxicity and does not activate the sperm. The sperm does not need to be cryopreserved immediately after the addition of the cryoprotectant, and it can be used long after being thawed. Moreover, sperm motility is still high after thawing although it is lower than that of fresh sperm. The aim of this work is to show the best available protocol for European eel handling, maturation, and sperm cryopreservation.

Determination of plant silicon content with near infrared reflectance spectroscopy.

Silicon (Si) is one of the most common elements in the earth bedrock, and its continental cycle is strongly biologically controlled. Yet, research on the biogeochemical cycle of Si in ecosystems is hampered by the time and cost associated with the currently used chemical analysis methods. Here, we assessed the suitability of Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) for measuring Si content in plant tissues. NIR spectra depend on the characteristics of the present bonds between H and N, C and O, which can be calibrated against concentrations of various compounds. Because Si in plants always occurs as hydrated condensates of orthosilicic acid (Si(OH)4), linked to organic biomolecules, we hypothesized that NIRS is suitable for measuring Si content in plants across a range of plant species. We based our testing on 442 samples of 29 plant species belonging to a range of growth forms. We calibrated the NIRS method against a well-established plant Si analysis method by using partial least-squares regression. Si concentrations ranged from detection limit (0.24 ppmSi) to 7.8% Si on dry weight and were well predicted by NIRS. The model fit with validation data was good across all plant species (n = 141, R (2) = 0.90, RMSEP = 0.24), but improved when only graminoids were modeled (n = 66, R (2) = 0.95, RMSEP = 0.10). A species specific model for the grass Deschampsia cespitosa showed even slightly better results than the model for all graminoids (n = 16, R (2) = 0.93, RMSEP = 0.015). We show for the first time that NIRS is applicable for determining plant Si concentration across a range of plant species and growth forms, and represents a time- and cost-effective alternative to the chemical Si analysis methods. As NIRS can be applied concurrently to a range of plant organic constituents, it opens up unprecedented research possibilities for studying interrelations between Si and other plant compounds in vegetation, and for addressing the role of Si in ecosystems across a range of Si research domains.