Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology 80 (2020) 103496 Available online 16 September 2020 1382-6689/© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Hematological and Hepatic Effects of Ulexite in Zebrafsh Gonca Alak a, *, Fatma Betül ¨ Ozgeris ¸ b , Aslı Çilingir Yeltekin c , Veysel Parlak a , Arzu Ucar a , Ozge Caglar d , Hasan Turkez e , Muhammed Atamanalp a, * a Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Fisheries, Ataturk University, TR-25030 Erzurum, Turkey b Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ataturk University, TR-25030 Erzurum, Turkey c Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Yuzuncu Yıl, TR-65080, Van, Turkey d Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Science, Erzurum Technical University, TR-25240 Erzurum, Turkey e Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Ataturk University, TR-25030 Erzurum, Turkey A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Ulexite boron zebrafsh nuclear abnormality micronucleus frequency DNA damage apoptosis liver blood ABSTRACT The ulexite (UX), a borate mineral, is used as boron source and commonly used in various industrial processes. The hematological and hepatic effects of UX were investigated by exposing adult zebrafsh to UX (5, 10, 20 and 40 mg/L) over 96 hours. The blood and liver tissues were taken at the end of the trial period then micronucleus (MN) rates, oxidative DNA damage (8-OHdG), apoptosis (Caspase-3), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), myeloperoxidase (MPO), paraoxonase (PON), arylesterase (AR) and lipid peroxidation (MDA) levels were determined. Genotoxic damage by UX occurred only at 40 mg/L in the blood MN assay. Oxidative stress, oxidative DNA damage and apoptosis in liver also occurred at this dose. Moreover, 5- 20 mg/L doses led to decreases of DNA damage and apoptosis levels via promoting antioxidant system in liver tissues. UX exhibits benefcial roles on blood and liver tissues of zebrafsh at relatively lower doses, which may be relevant to nutritional and medicinal industries. 1. Introduction Boron (B) compounds, primarily boric acid and borax, are widely used in glass products, agriculture, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals (Ince et al., 2010). Previous studies indicate that boron compounds have positive effects on both human and animal health via improving the quality of life and supporting the immune system (Turkez et al., 2007; Geyıkoglu and Turkez, 2008; Ince et al., 2010; Alak et al., 2018a; 2019a; 2019b; 2019c; Basaran et al., 2019). Although borax (BX) is a common boron mineral in nature, colemanite (COL) and ulexite (UX) are also other important borate minerals (Helvacı and Alonso, 2000; Kızılca and Copur, 2015). UX, is sodium-calcium-hydroborate composition, has been localized in rare places in the earth’s crust. The use of borates such as BX, COL and UX in animal and human nutrition can have key effects on various metabolic and physiological systems of the organism. How- ever, the biochemical mechanism of boron (B) and B-containing com- pounds is not yet fully known. There are several assumptions about the effect of B on hormones, trans-membrane signaling, and its role in cell membrane functions and to act as a metabolic regulator in many enzy- matic systems (Ince et al., 2010; Alak et al., 2018; 2019a; 2019b; 2019c, 2020). There is little research on the oxidative and genotoxic effects of different boron compounds in experimental animal models and humans. Therefore, we have evaluated UX as a potential regulatory agent which to date has not been used in seafood. For this purpose, the study was conducted in the blood and liver tissues of the zebrafsh. The Micronu- cleus (MN) test is the most popular cytogenetic damage index among environmental genotoxicity testing strategies and 8-hydroxy-2’-deoxy- guanosine (8-OH-dG) assay were performed on blood tissue samples of the experimental fsh for measuring genotoxicity potential by UX. In addition to this, malondialdehyde (MDA), 8-OHdG and apoptosis (Cas- pase-3) levels, protein oxidation status, activity of antioxidant enzymes including catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were determined in liver. In addition to these pa- rameters, oxidative stress-related markers such as the paraoxonase enzyme (PON) include aryl esterase (ARE) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) enzyme levels were evaluated. * Correspondence author at: Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Fisheries, AtaturkUniversity, TR-25030 Erzurum, Turkey. E-mail addresses: galak@atauni.edu.tr (G. Alak), mataman@atauni.edu.tr (M. Atamanalp). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/etap https://doi.org/10.1016/j.etap.2020.103496 Received 21 May 2020; Received in revised form 28 August 2020; Accepted 11 September 2020