The ubiquitous contamination of environmental lead (Pb) remains a worldwide threat. Improper Pb mine waste disposal from an abandoned lead-zinc mine has recently unearthed widespread Pb poisoning in children in Kabwe Zambia. Although the adverse effects of Pb on human health have begun to receive attention, the ecotoxicological effects on aquatic vertebrates still need further investigation. In addition, there is paucity in the knowledge on the behavioural and molecular subcellular responses in larval zebrafish exposed to Pb within the range of environmental relevant concentration (average 3 μg/L with maximum of 94 μg/L) on aquatic organisms such as zebrafish. The adverse effects of environmentally relevant levels of Pb on larval zebrafish was evaluated by measuring swimming behaviour under alternating dark and light conditions. Larval zebrafish acutely exposed to environmentally relevant Pb exhibited neuro-behavioural alteration including enhanced hyperactivity under light conditions evidenced by increased distanced covered and speed compared to the control. The alteration of entire behavioral profiles was further associated with the disturbed expression patterns of mRNA level of key genes associated with antioxidant (HO-1, Ucp-2 and CoxI), proapoptotic gene (TP53), and antiapoptotic gene (Bcl-2). To our knowledge, this is the first report on the effects of environmentally relevant Pb levels from Kabwe, Zambia and their adverse neurobehavioural effects and subcellular molecular oxidative responses in larval zebrafish acutely exposed within a 30 min period. The current results would be beneficial in our understanding of the effects of low Pb levels acutely discharged into an aquatic environment and the life of aquatic organisms.

普遍存在的环境铅（Pb）污染仍然是世界范围的威胁。最近，在一个废弃的铅锌矿山中，对铅矿山废物的处置不当，发现了赞比亚卡布韦儿童中广泛的铅中毒事件。尽管铅对人体健康的不利影响已开始引起人们的关注，但对水生脊椎动物的生态毒理学影响仍需进一步研究。此外，在斑马鱼等水生生物的环境相关浓度范围内（平均3μg/ L，最大94μg/ L），暴露于Pb的幼虫斑马鱼的行为和分子亚细胞反应的知识很少。通过在交替的黑暗和明亮条件下测量游泳行为，评估了环境相关水平的铅对幼虫斑马鱼的不利影响。急性暴露于环境相关的Pb的幼虫斑马鱼表现出神经行为改变，包括在光照条件下增强的活动过度，与对照相比，其覆盖距离和速度均增加。整个行为模式的改变还与抗氧化剂（HO-1，Ucp-2和CoxI），促凋亡基因（TP53）和抗凋亡基因（Bcl-2）相关的关键基因mRNA水平的表达模式紊乱有关。据我们所知，这是关于在30分钟内急性暴露的幼虫斑马鱼中来自赞比亚Kabwe的与环境相关的Pb水平的影响及其不良神经行为和亚细胞分子氧化反应的第一份报告。