Exposure to Deepwater Horizon crude oil increases free cholesterol in larval red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus).

Abstract

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill impacted over 2100\xa0km of shoreline along the northern Gulf of Mexico, which coincided with the spawning season of many coastal species, including red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus). Red drum develop rapidly and are sensitive to crude oil exposure during the embryonic and larval periods. This study investigates the predictions from recent transcriptomic studies that cholesterol biosynthetic processes are impacted by oil exposure in fish early life stages. We found that red drum larvae exposed for 72\xa0h to ΣPAH50 3.55-15.45\xa0µg L-1 exhibited significantly increased pericardial area, a cardiotoxicity metric, but the expression of several genes targeted in the cholesterol synthesis pathway was not affected. However, whole-mount staining revealed significant increases in free cholesterol throughout the larval body (ΣPAH50 4.71-16.15\xa0µg L-1), and total cholesterol followed an increasing trend (ΣPAH50 3.55-15.45\xa0µg L-1). Cholesterol plays a critical role in fish embryo development and ion channel function. Therefore, the disruption of cholesterol homeostasis, as observed here, could play a role in the oil toxicity phenotype observed across many fish species.