Valproate-induced teratogenesis in Japanese rice fish (Oryzias latipes) embryogenesis

Fertilized eggs of Japanese rice fish (medaka) at three developmental stages (Iwamatsu stages 4-30) were exposed to waterborne valproic acid (VPA) (0-80 mM) in hatching solution for 48 h. The amount of valproate to cause 50% mortality (IC50) is found to be developmental stage-specific. The embryos were more sensitive to valproate at early stages of development (Iwamatsu stages 4-10) than in the embryos in late stages (Iwamatsu stages 17-30). Valproate exposed embryos have microcephaly and disrupted cardiovasculature with delayed vessel circulation, thrombus formation, and slow heart rate. The hatching efficiency is also reduced by valproate exposure due to developmental delay. The mRNA analysis of nine genes belong to oxidative stress (catalase, gsr, gst), neurogenesis (iro3, wnt1, shh, otx2, nlgn3b) and cell cycle regulation (ccna2) have been done. It was observed that the genes belong to oxidative stress remained unaltered after valproate exposure. However, some of the genes belong to neurogenesis (wnt1,shh, otx2 and nlgn3b) and cell cycle (ccna2) showed developmental stage-specific alteration after valproate exposure. This study indicates that valproate is able to induce some of the phenotypic features which are analogous to human fetal valproate syndrome (FVS). Modulation of genes expressed in neural tissues indicates that this fish can be used to analyze the mechanisms of many neurobehavioral disorders like Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in human.