Revisiting redox-active antioxidant defenses in response to hypoxic challenge in both hypoxia-tolerant and hypoxia-sensitive fish species

• Published in: Fish physiology and biochemistry Vol. 40; no. 1; pp. 183 - 191
• Main Authors: Leveelahti, Lotta, Rytkönen, Kalle T, Renshaw, Gillian M. C, Nikinmaa, Mikko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer-Verlag 01.02.2014; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal Anatomy; Animal Biochemistry; Animal Physiology; Animals; Anoxia; Antioxidants; Antioxidants - metabolism; Biology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Catalase - metabolism; Defense; Enzymes; Fish; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Gasterosteus aculeatus; Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase - metabolism; Glutathione Peroxidase - metabolism; Glutathione Reductase - metabolism; Glutathione Transferase - metabolism; Histology; Hypoxia; Hypoxia - enzymology; Hypoxia - metabolism; Life Sciences; Marine; Morphology; Oncorhynchus mykiss; Oncorhynchus mykiss - metabolism; Oxidation-Reduction; Oxidative stress; Physiology; Random Allocation; Sharks; Sharks - metabolism; Smegmamorpha - metabolism; Superoxide Dismutase - metabolism; Trout; Zoology; Oxidative stress; Hypoxia; Epaulette shark; Threespine stickleback; ROS; Rainbow trout
• ISSN: 0920-1742; 1573-5168
• DOI: 10.1007/s10695-013-9835-1

It is not known whether changes in antioxidant levels always occur in fish in response to the oxidative stress that usually accompanies a hypoxic challenge. The studies of antioxidant responses to hypoxia in fish have mostly focused on very anoxia-tolerant species and indicate that there is an enhancement of antioxidant defenses. Here we present new data on redox-active antioxidants from three species, which range in their tolerance to hypoxia: the epaulette shark, threespine stickleback, and rainbow trout, together with a compilation of results from other studies that have measured oxidative stress parameters in hypoxia-exposed fish. The results suggest that in general, fish do not show an increase in redox-active antioxidant defense in response to oxidative stress associated with hypoxia. Rather, the changes in antioxidant defenses during hypoxia are very much species- and tissue-specific and are not linked to the level of hypoxia tolerance of the fish species.