Reproductive toxicity of nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) along with coexisting decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE209) to earthworm Eisenia fetida (E. fetida) remains unknown. In the present study, the reproductive responses of E. fetida exposed to 100, 500 and 1000 mg kg⁻¹ of nZVI showed a significant (P < 0.05) decline up to 35.6%, 60.0% and 93.3%, respectively, compared to the controls. Expression levels of annetocin (ANN) gene indicated a remarkable (P < 0.05) down-regulation (59.2%, 58.2% and 95.0%, correspondingly), and it was positively correlated with reproductive rates (R = 0.94). Iron contents in E. fetida were also relevant to reproductive behavior (R = 0.84) and ANN expression (R = 0.75). Additionally, seminal vesicles displayed a progressive degeneration with increasing nZVI levels. The addition of BDE209 to low level of nZVI-polluted group (100 mg kg⁻¹ dw) barely caused clear changes on reproduction, histopathology and ANN, while the coexistence resulted in significant impacts in comparison with high level of single nZVI exposure (1000 mg kg⁻¹ dw). These observations would provide some significant information concerning joint toxicity of the two chemicals in a soil system.

纳米级零价铁（nZVI）以及共存的十溴二苯醚（BDE209）对worm Eetnia fetida（E. fetida）的生殖毒性仍然未知。在本研究中，生殖响应赤子爱胜蚓暴露于100，500和1000毫克千克^-1的nZVI的呈显著（P  <0.05），下降到35.6％，60.0％和93.3％，相比于控件。Annetocin（ANN）基因的表达水平显示出显着的（P <0.05）下调（分别为59.2％，58.2％和95.0％），并且与生殖率呈正相关（R  = 0.94）。大肠杆菌中的铁含量与生殖行为（R  = 0.84）和ANN表达（R  = 0.75）也有关。另外，精囊显示出随着nZVI水平升高而进行性退化。在低水平的nZVI污染组（100 mg kg ^-1 dw）中添加BDE209几乎不会对生殖，组织病理学和ANN造成明显的改变，而与高水平的nZVI单一暴露水平（1000 mg kg ^-1 dw）。这些观察结果将提供有关两种化学物质在土壤系统中的联合毒性的一些重要信息。