Erythrosine Induces Teratogenic Effects Via Activation of ROS Biogenesis in Zebrafish Embryos

The xanthene class of Erythrosine B (ErB) is a well-recognized color additive that has been used in drugs, foods and cosmetics. ErB is described as inhibitors of protein–protein interaction and is toxic to reproductive and developmental processes. However, the available toxicological information was inconclusive to access the potential risk of ErB to aquatic and other living organisms. Hence, in this study, we investigated the toxicological impacts of ErB by utilizing zebrafish embryos as model organisms. The developmental deformities including survival, hatching, heart rate, malformation and histological changes were evaluated at specific time intervals (12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84 and 96 hpf), and the oxidative stress markers [catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione S-transferase (GST) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx)] were also measured to ascertain the relationship between ErB and reactive oxygen species (ROS). The results depict that ErB was found to exert a concentration-dependent (1, 10, 50, 100, 1000 g mL−1) toxicity to zebrafish embryos by reducing the survival (45.3 ± 11.7%), hatching (45 ± 11.12%) and heart rate (49.4 ± 5.2% at 60 hpf) along with significantly induced malformation at 96 hpf. Moreover, the activities of antioxidant enzyme levels (CAT, SOD, GST and GPx) were significantly (P < 0.05) reduced in ErB at 1000 µg mL−1 exposed embryos which clearly stating the generation of ROS by ErB. Similarly, morphology and histological patterns further validate that ErB was found to induce severe abnormalities to zebrafish embryos and/or larvae in a dose-dependent manner. Hence, our preliminary findings show the evidence on the toxicological impacts of food additive ErB against developmental stages of zebrafish embryos through its ROS-mediated pro-oxidant effects.