Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Martins, Sandra, Varela, Jaquelino, Felix, Rute, Santos, Catarina Pereira, Paula, José Ricardo, Power, Deborah M, Rosa, Rui
Format: Artículo científico
Language:en
Published: Comparative biochemistry and physiology. Part A, Molecular & integrative physiology 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40651691/
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Table of Contents:
  • Hypoxia impairs survival and alters immune and iron metabolism gene expression during shark early ontogeny. Martins, Sandra Varela, Jaquelino Felix, Rute Santos, Catarina Pereira Paula, José Ricardo Power, Deborah M Rosa, Rui Animals Sharks Iron Hypoxia Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental Oxygen Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit Fish Proteins The global oxygen inventory has been declining worldwide, primarily due to climate change. The importance of oxygen for aerobic respiration and its homeostasis makes declining oxygen levels a concern, particularly during energy demanding lifecycle stages. The effects of low oxygen levels on neuroendocrine responses and immune competence of developing sharks were studied in the head and trunk tissues of early (EE; before pre-hatching) and late embryos (LE) of small-spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula) under six days of deoxygenation (93 % O of air saturation) and hypoxic conditions (26 % O). Catshark embryos were resilient to deoxygenation, with only a 10 % decline in survival compared to the control, and only the gene expression of melanotransferrin changed. Under hypoxia, growth was unaffected, but survival decreased by 31 % compared to the control in LE, highlighting an inadequate physiological response. Developmental stage affected the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (hif1a), iron metabolism and immune-related genes, pointing to critical response mechanisms. The EE stage had an optimised stress response under hypoxia compared to LE, with the upregulation of the hif1a gene. The lack of a protective response and compromised immune-related functions under hypoxia in LE raise concerns about species survival under climate change. These findings highlight the need for further research on the likely resilience of sharks to environmental challenges.