Complex mixtures of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are regularly detected in the environment and animal tissues. Often these chemicals are associated with latent effects following early-life exposures, following the developmental origin of health and disease paradigm. We investigated the long-term effects of a human relevant mixture of 29 POPs on adult zebrafish following a developmental exposure, in addition to a single PFOS exposure for comparison, as it was the compound with the highest concentration within the mixture. Zebrafish embryos were exposed from 6 to 96 h post fertilization to x10 and x70 the level of POP mixture or PFOS (0.55 and 3.83 μM) found in human blood before being transferred to clean water. We measured growth, swimming performance, and reproductive output at different life stages. In addition, we assessed anxiety behavior of the adults and their offspring, as well as performing a transcriptomic analysis on the adult zebrafish brain, as the POP mixture and PFOS concentrations used are known to affect larval behavior. Exposure to POP mixture and PFOS reduced swimming performance and increased length and weight, compared to controls. No effect of developmental exposure was observed on reproductive output or anxiety behavior. Additionally, RNA-seq did not reveal pathways related to anxiety although pathways related to synapse biology were affected at the x10 PFOS level. Furthermore, pathway analysis of the brain transcriptome of adults exposed as larvae to the low concentration of PFOS revealed enrichment in pathways such as calcium, MAPK, and GABA signaling, all of which are important for learning and memory. Based on our results we can conclude that some effects on the endpoints measured were apparent, but if these effects lead to adversities at population levels remains elusive.

在环境和动物组织中经常检测到持久性有机污染物 (POP) 的复杂混合物。根据健康和疾病的发展起源范式，这些化学物质通常与生命早期暴露后的潜在影响有关。我们调查了人类相关的 29 种持久性有机污染物混合物在发育暴露后对成年斑马鱼的长期影响，除了用于比较的单次全氟辛烷磺酸暴露之外，因为它是混合物中浓度最高的化合物。斑马鱼胚胎在受精后 6 至 96 小时暴露于人类血液中 POP 混合物或全氟辛烷磺酸（0.55 和 3.83 μM）水平的 10 倍和 70 倍，然后再转移到干净的水中。我们测量了不同生命阶段的生长、游泳表现和繁殖能力。此外，我们评估了成年斑马鱼及其后代的焦虑行为，并对成年斑马鱼的大脑进行了转录组学分析，因为已知使用的 POP 混合物和全氟辛烷磺酸浓度会影响幼虫的行为。与对照组相比，暴露于持久性有机污染物和全氟辛烷磺酸会降低游泳能力并增加身长和体重。未观察到发育暴露对生殖输出或焦虑行为的影响。此外，尽管与突触生物学相关的通路在 x10 PFOS 水平受到影响，但 RNA-seq 并未揭示与焦虑相关的通路。此外，对幼虫暴露于低浓度全氟辛烷磺酸的成虫大脑转录组的通路分析显示，钙、MAPK 和 GABA 信号通路等通路富集，所有这些通路对学习和记忆都很重要。