Effects of the fungicide ortho-phenylphenol (OPP) on the early development of sea urchin eggs.

In this study, we assessed the impact of imidazole fungicide ortho-phenylphenol (OPP) on the early development of a marine invertebrate, the sea urchin, a marine bioindicator. Fungicides are widely used and have been reported to accumulate not only in farm soil but also in freshwater and seawater sediments. Therefore, it is essential to clarify the effects of OPP on marine environments. Toxicity was estimated as the inhibition ratio of the 120 min-embryo and/or the 24 h-embryo development. The addition of OPP to embryos of the two sea urchin species, Scaphechinus mirabilis (S. mirabilis) and Strongylocentrotus nudus (S. nudus), at 0.1 mM or higher, resulted in acute toxicity (cell death). The IC value of the 120 min-embryos or the 24 h-embryos for S. mirabilis and S. nudus with OPP was around 0.06 mM, indicating that fertilized eggs and embryos of the sea urchin are more sensitive to OPP than higher vertebrates. In addition, in the presence of OPP (0.005-0.05 mM), the proportion (%) of the gastrula keeping the fertilization membrane increased, suggesting that OPP (0.005-0.05 mM) inhibited the hatching process, possibly by affecting the hatching enzyme activity.