The Embryotoxicity of Some Phenol Derivatives on Zebrafish, Danio rerio

The existence of toxicants in ecosystems has been increased dramatically in recent years, especially in aquatic environments. Phenols and chlorinated phenol derivatives are toxic industrial compounds. Phenols and derivatives are known to be environmental contaminants. In the present study, 2,4-Dichlorophenol, 2-Chlorophenol and substituted phenol were tested for embryotoxicity and mortality in a four-day period using zebrafish, Danio rerio embryos. Tested phenol derivatives caused teratogenicity and embryo mortality in the embryos. The semi static 48-h LC50 (median lethal concentration) value for Substituted-phenol was 13.850 mg L-1; the corresponding values for 2-Chlorophenol and 2,4-Dichlorophenol were 8.378 mg L-1 and 6.558 mg L-1, respectively. The endpoints are incomplete eyes, head and tail, heart and chorda deformity, yolk sac edema, tail curvature, shrunken eyes, lordosis, delayed hatching, weak pigmentation, heart edema and non-pigmentation after exposure to the compounds. 2,4-Dichlorophenol was found to be more toxic than the others. This paper is the first to describe the relative toxicity of a suite of phenols in the early life stages of zebrafish.