Seasonal changes in antioxidant defenses of the digestive gland of the brown mussel ( Perna perna)

• Published in: Aquaculture Vol. 203; no. 1; pp. 149 - 158
• Main Authors: Wilhelm Filho, D, Tribess, T, Gáspari, C, Claudio, F.D, Torres, M.A, Magalhães, A.R.M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 26.11.2001; Elsevier Science; Elsevier Sequoia S.A
• Subjects: Animal aquaculture; Animal productions; Animal reproduction; Antioxidants; Aquaculture; Biological and medical sciences; Digestive gland; Digestive system; Enzymes; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Invertebrate aquaculture; Marine; Mollusca; Mollusks; Perna perna; Reactive oxygen species; Reproduction; Seasonality; Seasons; Antioxidants; Reactive oxygen species; Reproduction; Digestive gland; Perna perna; Seasonality; Farming animal; Enzyme; Transferases; Oxygen consumption; Superoxide dismutase; Antioxidant; Defense; Marine environment; Peroxidases; Catalase; Bivalvia; Glutathione transferase; Seasonal variation; Adult animal; Shellfish breeding; Oxidoreductases; Invertebrata; Mollusca; Glutathione
• ISSN: 0044-8486; 1873-5622
• DOI: 10.1016/S0044-8486(01)00599-3

Fifteen specimens of adult mussels Perna perna were analyzed quarterly for antioxidant and detoxifying enzymes (superoxide dismutase, SOD, EC1.15.1.1; catalase, CAT, EC 1.11.1.6, and glutathione S-transferase GST, EC 2.5.1.18), and non-enzymatic antioxidants (reduced glutathione, GSH; oxidized glutathione, GSSG; and total glutathione, TG), thiobarbituric reactive substances (TBARS) content, and oxygen consumption of the isolated digestive gland. Significant differences ( P<0.05) were found in relation to the variables analyzed during May and December. Except total and reduced glutathione content, the other antioxidants and oxygen consumption were enhanced in May and December compared to March and September (means±S.E.M.; grams of wet weight): Catalase (28.5±2.7, 22.2±5.4, and 8.1±1.7, 9.8±2.0 mmol min −1 g −1, respectively); superoxide dismutase (4208.7±400.0, 1543.3±181.8, and 563.6±54.5, 863.5±127.6 USOD g −1, respectively); glutathione S-transferase (12.0±2.9, 19.3±1.2, and 5.3±0.46, 4.5±1.3 μmolmin −1 g −1, respectively), and oxygen consumption (158.3±4.4, 133.8±9.4, and 127.9±7.6, 86.4±6.9, μmol O 2 min −1 g −1, respectively). TBARS contents showed higher values in May (94.6±23.7 nmol g −1) compared to March (41.0±3.7 nmol g −1) and September (42.0±6.8 nmol g −1); however, the values found in December (52.0±7.5 nmol g −1) were not significantly different from those found in September. Higher GSH concentrations were found in December (2.31±0.19 mM), which may account for the decreased TBARS contents found in this period compared to March (GSH 0.90±0.12 mM) and September (GSH 0.89±0.11 mM). Total glutathione content showed a similar pattern to GSH. Oxidized glutathione concentrations showed significant differences only when the samples of December (2.2±0.60 mM) and September (0.66±0.04 mM) were compared. At December and May, significant increases in practically all the parameters occurred. It is concluded that during December and May, as a result probably of temperature elevation and the intense reproductive activity that follows early summer (December) and autumn (May), the observed increase in oxygen consumption is likely to have elicited an increase in cellular oxyradical generation. P. perna seems to seasonally compensate for these increases by increasing its antioxidant defenses.