Acrylamide is a commonly used industrial chemical that is known to be neurotoxic to mammals. However, its developmental toxicity is rarely assessed in mammalian models because of the cost and complexity involved. We used zebrafish to assess the neurotoxicity, developmental and behavioral toxicity of acrylamide. At 6 h post fertilization, zebrafish embryos were exposed to four concentrations of acrylamide (10, 30, 100, or 300 mg/L) in a medium for 114 h. Acrylamide caused developmental toxicity characterized by yolk retention, scoliosis, swim bladder deficiency, and curvature of the body. Acrylamide also impaired locomotor activity, which was measured as swimming speed and distance traveled. In addition, treatment with 100 mg/L acrylamide shortened the width of the brain and spinal cord, indicating neuronal toxicity. In summary, acrylamide induces developmental toxicity and neurotoxicity in zebrafish. This can be used to study acrylamide neurotoxicity in a rapid and cost-efficient manner.

Developing a ready-to-use miniaturized thermosensor is a great challenge due to its individual use on a large scale for daily business such as food industry and healthcare. Herein, a polyethylene glycol (PEG)-modified graphene oxide (GO)-based hydrogel thermosensor was established with a fluorescent dye-labeled peptide nucleic acid (F-PNA). The size-tunable hydrogel with high water content and sufficient solidity allowed free movement of the oligonucleotides through the pores and improved usability for handling the sensor. In the PEG-GO hydrogel, the DNA/F-PNA duplex could be denatured by increasing the temperature, followed by selective PNA capture on the PEG-GO. Using this principle, the PEG-GO hydrogel exhibited a change in the fluorescence signal of F-PNA in a temperature-dependent manner, allowing real-time visualization of temperature on a large scale. The temperature detection range of this system can be adjusted by designing the PNA strands based on the melting temperature of the DNAzyme/PNA duplex. Its sensing specificity and detection range could be increased and broadened by observing multi-color detection using PNA probes labeled with different fluorescent dyes of different lengths in a single hydrogel. In addition, the hydrogel platform is easy to store for long time periods via dehydration and can be restored with the addition of water, allowing easy transport, storage, and use of the thermosensor in everyday life.

Safe endocrine-disrupting alternatives for bisphenol A (BPA) are needed because its adverse health effects have become a public concern. Some bisphenol analogues (bisphenol F and S) have been applied, but their endocrine-disrupting potential is either not negligible or weaker than that of BPA. However, the endocrine-disrupting potential of bisphenol AP (BPAP), another BPA alternative, has not yet been fully assessed. Hence, we evaluated the thyroid hormone (TH)-disrupting potency of BPAP because THs are essential endocrine hormones. Zebrafish embryos were exposed to BPAP (0, 18.2, 43.4, or 105.9 μg/L) for 120 h, and TH levels, the transcription of 16 TH-related genes, the transcriptome, development, and behavior were evaluated. In our study, a decrease in T4 level was observed only at the maximum nonlethal concentration, but significant changes in the T3 and TSHβ levels were not detected. BPAP did not cause significant changes in transcription and gene ontology enrichment related to the TH system. Developmental and behavioral changes were not observed. Despite T4 level reduction, other markers were not significantly affected by BPAP. These might indicate that BPAP has weak or negligible potency regarding TH disruption as a BPA alternative. This study might provide novel information on the TH-disrupting potential of BPAP.