Reproductive Toxicities of Tetradecyltrimethylammonium Chloride and Tetradecyltrimethylammonium Bromide on Caenorhabditis elegans over Four Consecutive Generations

Quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) become emerging pollutants and their toxicities earn increasing attention. So far, their reproductive toxicities were poorly investigated, and their effects over generations were even less explored. In the present study, reproductive toxicities of two QACs, i.e. , tetradecyltrimethylammonium chloride (TTAC) and tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB) were studied on Caenorhabditis elegans with a consecutive exposure over four generations (from F1 to F4). The effects of TTAC on total and initial reproduction showed stimulation and inhibition, which oscillated from F1 to F4. The effects of TTAB on the total reproduction commonly showed stimulation over generations with the greatest stimulation in F2, and it inhibited the initial reproduction but stimulated the reproduction duration. Further exploration demonstrated that TTAC and TTAB significantly disturbed the levels of spermatocyte protein 8 (SPE8), sperm transmembrane protein 9 (SPE9), vitellogenin (Vg), major sperm protein (MSP) and ephrin receptor protein tyrosine kinase (VAB-1) and the expressions of vab-1, ceh-18, set-2, met-2 and mes-4 . Such disturbances demonstrated that both QACs impacted the reproductive processes via oocyte meiosis, gonadal support and germline development. Notably, the effects of TTAC and TTAB in parents were connected with those in the offspring, which highlighted the roles of reproduction in connecting generations. In addition, different effects between TTAC and TTAB demonstrated the anionic influences on the QACs’ toxicities.