Study of catalase and superoxide dismutase genes expression in presence of sublethal doses of endosulfan poison in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

In this study, the effect of sublethal doses of endosulfan poison (16, 32 and 64μg/L) was investigated on the expression of antioxidant enzyme genes (catalase and superoxide dismutase) in zebrafish (Danio rerio) during 14 days. For this purpose, sampling was done from each treatment on days 1, 2, 7 and 14 after exposure. RNA was extracted from liver, cDNA was synthesized and antioxidant enzyme gene expression was evaluated using Real-time PCR. The results of different time intervals showed an increase in the relative expression of studied genes in the endosulfan treated samples compared to the control group (P<0.05). The expression of both genes had the highest relative increase in the first 24 hours compared to other times and this trend was observed in all three doses of the study. Similarly, the relative expression of the studied genes showed a dose-dependent trend in all days of exposure. The results of this study indicated that changes in the gene expression of SOD and Cat enzymes can be considered as an effective indicator in ecotoxicology studies.