Teratogenicity and hepatotoxicity of rifampicin exposure in Zebrafish

Antibiotics belong to a large group of pharmaceutical substances that tend to kill or prevent the growth of bacteria like rifampicin and other antibiotics. The overuse of rifampicin has resulted in the accumulation in the natural environment and has potential health hazard that involves carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, reproductive toxicity, and neurotoxicity. This study focuses on the toxic effects of rifampicin on zebrafish embryos and follows OECD 236 guidelines. The embryos are treated with 1.25, 2.5, 5, and 10 mg/L of rifampicin for a range of 4-96 hours post-fertilization. Exposed zebrafish embryos showed a variety of deformities in somites, spines, tails, hearts, and yolk sacs. Heart rate was decreasing with increasing centration of rifampicin. For adults, we exposed 5, 10, and 20 mg/L of rifampicin. The hepatotoxicity was assessed by expression of SOD, GH1, and TNF-? gene and observed a spike in the expressed at a low dose (5 mg/L) by 2.13-fold, 15.6-fold, and 3.53-fold, respectively. MDA levels were 0.32 and 0.39 nM at 10 and 20 mg/L of rifampicin, respectively. Therefore, zebrafish provide new insights into the toxicological effects of pharmaceuticals, and we found teratogenicity and rifampicin-induced hepatotoxicity in adult zebrafish.