Chlorpyrifos exposure affects fgf8, sox9, and bmp4 expression required for cranial neural crest morphogenesis and chondrogenesis in Xenopus laevis embryos

This study investigated the effects of exposure to different CPF concentrations (10, 15 and 20 mg/L) on Xenopus laevis embryos from stage 4/8 to stage 46. Some of the morphological changes we detected in CPF‐exposed embryos included cranial neural crest cell (NCC)‐derived structures. For this reason, we analyzed the expression of select genes involved in hindbrain patterning (egr2), cranial neural crest chondrogenesis, and craniofacial development (fgf8, bmp4, sox9, hoxa2 and hoxb2). We found that CPF exposure induced a reduction in transcription of all the genes involved in NCC‐dependent chondrogenesis, with largest reductions in fgf8 and sox9; whereas, in hindbrain, we did not find any alterations in egr2 expression. Changes in the expression of fgf8, bmp4, and sox9, which are master regulators of several developmental pathways, have important implications. If these changes are confirmed to belong to a general pattern of alterations in vertebrates prenatally exposed to OP, they might be useful to assess damage during vertebrate embryo development. Environ. Mol. Mutagen., 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Source: Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis - Category: Molecular Biology Authors: Tags: Research Article Source Type: research