Quizalofop-P-ethyl (QpE), a highly efficient selective herbicide, has good control effect on annual and perennial weeds. However, its excessive use will pose a threat to the ecological environment. QpE has been proven harmful to aquatic organisms, but there is little evidence on the adverse effects of QpE in the early life of aquatic organisms. In this work, zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos were treated with 0.10, 0.20, 0.30, 0.40, and 0.50 mg/L of QpE for 120 h. The findings revealed that the LC₅₀ value of QpE to zebrafish embryos was 0.23 mg/L at 96 hpf. QpE exposure significantly increased the mortality rate, decreased the hatching rate and caused morphological defects during zebrafish embryonic development, with a concentration dependent manner. QpE also caused severe morphological changes in the cardiovascular system, as well as resulted in a dysfunction in cardiovascular performance. Meanwhile, both histopathological examination and neutrophil observations showed inflammatory response occurred in the heart. Furthermore, several genes associated with heart development and inflammation were significantly altered following QpE exposure. A protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis proved that there was a connection between the changed heart development-relevant and inflammation-related genes. Taken together, our findings suggest that QpE causes cardiotoxicity in zebrafish embryos by altering the expression of genes in the regulatory network of cardiac development, which might be aggravated by inflammatory reactions, thereby affecting embryo development. These findings generated here are useful for in-depth assessment of the effects of QpE on early development of aquatic organisms and providing theoretical foundation for risk management measures.

Quizalofop-P-ethyl (QpE) 是一种高效的选择性除草剂，对一年生和多年生杂草具有良好的防除效果。但过度使用会对生态环境造成威胁。QpE 已被证明对水生生物有害，但几乎没有证据表明 QpE 对水生生物早期生命的不利影响。在这项工作中，斑马鱼 ( Danio rerio ) 胚胎用 0.10、0.20、0.30、0.40 和 0.50 mg/L 的 QpE 处理 120 小时。研究结果表明，LC ₅₀在 96 hpf 时，斑马鱼胚胎的 QpE 值为 0.23 mg/L。在斑马鱼胚胎发育过程中，QpE 暴露显着增加死亡率、降低孵化率并导致形态缺陷，且呈浓度依赖性。QpE 还引起心血管系统的严重形态变化，并导致心血管功能障碍。同时，组织病理学检查和中性粒细胞观察均显示心脏发生炎症反应。此外，与心脏发育和炎症相关的几个基因在 QpE 暴露后发生了显着改变。蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用 (PPI) 网络分析证明，改变的心脏发育相关基因和炎症相关基因之间存在联系。综合起来，我们的研究结果表明，QpE 通过改变心脏发育调控网络中基因的表达，在斑马鱼胚胎中引起心脏毒性，炎症反应可能会加剧这种情况，从而影响胚胎发育。这里产生的这些发现有助于深入评估 QpE 对水生生物早期发育的影响，并为风险管理措施提供理论基础。