2026-10-09T13:49:28Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/34021103 2026-09-29T04:11:22Z category_4 category_7 category_12 category_15 category_16 category_734 portal_63 item_type_6 month_year_09_2026

Polystyrene Nanoplastics Disrupt Lateral Line Neuromasts and Impair Flow-Guided Behaviors in Zebrafish Chenxin Gong (24368279) Kaiwen Hu (1595659) Conghui Shan (17749467) Difei Tong (16025018) Xinrui Ge (24368282) Maozhu Wang (18292506) Yingying Yu (546494) Yu Han (251741) Guangxu Liu (7522712) Wei Shi (68167) Biochemistry Medicine Cell Biology Neuroscience Physiology Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified pervasive aquatic pollutants neuromast structural damage elevated angular motion danio rerio </ decreased gpx4 abundance apical hair bundles showed increased lc3b lateral line system larva protein analysis associated molecular alterations lateral line results showed positive hair increased apoptosis functional alterations associated signaling acsl4 abundance zebrafish nanoplastics zebrafish (< vesicle trafficking study investigated shortened kinocilia sensitive target results identify reduced daspei redox dysregulation pathways related partial loss np exposure mitochondrial bioenergetics life stages level analyses integrated bulk impair flow hydrodynamic sensing guided behaviors glutathione metabolism flow conditions directional precision cytoskeletal organization cell counts Nanoplastics (NPs) are pervasive aquatic pollutants; however, their effects on fish mechanosensory function remain poorly understood. This study investigated the impacts of polystyrene NPs (PS-NPs) on the lateral line system of zebrafish (<i>Danio rerio</i>) across life stages by integrating hydrodynamic behavioral assays with cellular, ultrastructural, transcriptomic, and protein-level analyses. Our results showed that PS-NP exposure significantly impaired flow-guided behaviors and hydrodynamic sensing in both life stages. Adult zebrafish exhibited reduced trajectory linearity and directional precision during rheotaxis, while larvae showed compromised spatial stability and elevated angular motion under vortex-flow conditions. These functional alterations were accompanied by reduced DASPEI-positive hair-cell counts, increased apoptosis, shortened kinocilia, and disorganization and partial loss of apical hair bundles. Integrated bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing revealed consistent perturbations in pathways related to mitochondrial bioenergetics, glutathione metabolism, AMPK/mTOR-associated signaling, cytoskeletal organization, and vesicle trafficking. Whole-larva protein analysis further showed increased LC3B and ACSL4 abundance and decreased GPX4 abundance, consistent with autophagy- and ferroptosis-associated molecular alterations. In conclusion, these results identify the lateral line as a sensitive target of NP exposure and suggest that PS-NPs may impair hydrodynamic sensing through neuromast structural damage and metabolic-redox dysregulation. 2026-09-29T00:00:00Z Text Journal contribution 10.1021/acsnano.6c09166.s001 https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Polystyrene_Nanoplastics_Disrupt_Lateral_Line_Neuromasts_and_Impair_Flow-Guided_Behaviors_in_Zebrafish/34021103 CC BY-NC 4.0