Abstract
BackgroundVitellogenin (Vtg) is the major egg yolk protein (YP) in most oviparous species and may be useful as an indicator in ecotoxicological testing at the biochemical level. In this study, we obtained detailed information about the Vtgs of Danio rerio embryos by cutting SDS-PAGE gel lanes into thin slices, and analyzing them slice-by-slice with (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry.ResultsWe conducted three proteomic analyses, comparing embryonic Danio rerio Vtg cleavage products after exposure for 48 h to CdSecore/ZnSshell quantum dots (QDs), after exposure to a mixture of the components used for quantum dot synthesis (MCS-QDs), and in untreated embryos. The Vtg mass spectrometric profiles of the QDs-treated embryos differed from those of the unexposed or MCS-QDs-treated embryos.ConclusionThis study demonstrates the possible utility of Vtg profiling in D. rerio embryos as a sensitive diagnostic tool to estimate nanoparticle toxicity.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12953-015-0072-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Vitellogenin (Vtg) is the major egg yolk protein (YP) in most oviparous species and may be useful as an indicator in ecotoxicological testing at the biochemical level
The purpose of this study was to develop a proteomic approach to determine the toxicity of quantum dots (QDs) (CdSecore/ ZnSshell coated with dihydrolipoic acid [Dihydrolipoic acid (DHLA)]) based on the changes they induce in the one-dimensional proteomic profiles of Vtg cleavage products
We showed that the treatment of D. rerio embryos with doxorubicin caused a significant reduction in the number of Vtgs with theoretical molecular weights around 150 kDa, which were identified in the SDS-PAGE gel slices in the region corresponding to 37–75 kDa [34]
Summary
Vitellogenin (Vtg) is the major egg yolk protein (YP) in most oviparous species and may be useful as an indicator in ecotoxicological testing at the biochemical level. Danio rerio is a recommended test species for various toxicological standard tests, including OECD, ISO, and US EPA Guidelines. Analysis of the D. rerio proteome has been used to study the mechanisms of embryo development [3,4,5,6], and is used to study the pathogenesis, prognosis, treatment, and biomarkers of human diseases [7,8]. The main problem encountered with the proteomic analysis of D. rerio embryos is the high content of yolk proteins (YPs) derived from vitellogenins (Vtgs). The major D. rerio protein is VtgI, which is expressed 100 times more strongly than Vtg and 1000 times more strongly than Vtg3 [15]
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