Antioxidant responses induced by exposure to short periods of estivation in Pomacea canaliculata (Caenogastropoda, Architaenioglossa, Ampullariidae)

MAXIMILIANO GIRAUD-BILLOUD; ALEJANDRA CAMPOY-DIAZ; FEDERICO DELL AGNOLA; CRISTIAN RODRIGUEZ; ISRAEL VEGA

San Luis

Congreso; XXXIX Reunión Científica Anual de la Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo; 2021

Pomacea canaliculata (Gastropoda, Ampullariidae) has shown remarkable invasiveness, in part due to its tolerance to harsh environmental conditions, such as desiccation and extreme temperature changes of the habitats in which it lives. Animals exposed to a long (45 days) activity-estivation cycle show changes in metabolic rate with oxidative stress caused by ROS overproduction. During this hypometabolic situation, an increase in non-enzymatic antioxidants, as uric acid and GSH, constitute an alternative to the adaptive physiological strategy of preparation for oxidative stress. However, there is little knowledge regarding what occurs in short activity-estivation cycles. Here we studied the production of oxygen free radicals (ROS), cell damage through the formation of carbonyl proteins (CP), enzymatic antioxidant defenses activity (SOD, CAT, and GST) and uric acid concentration, as the main non-enzymatic antioxidant of this species, in control active animals, snails after 7 and 15 days of estivation, and aroused snails (20 min), after each quiescence period, in the midgut gland, gill, and lung tissue samples. In the gill the ROS levels almost doubled its production during 7- and 15-day estivation and arousal, compared to control group. In the lung, relative to controls, estivation led to a significant augmentation of ROS production only after 15 days of estivation. In the midgut gland a significant increase in ROS levels was observed only after 7 days of estivation. CP content rose significantly after both estivation periods in the gill, decreasing significantly after the 7-day estivation arousal of. In the lung, after 7-day estivation the CP content showed a significant increase that did not decrease after arousal. During 15-day activity-estivation cycle the CP content did not change significantly in the lung. Finally, CP content rose significantly after both estivation periods in the midgut gland, maintaining significantly high levels in the arousal of 15 days of estivation. In the midgut gland, the SOD activity significantly increased after 15 days of estivation and decreased during arousal, while catalase activity increased in 7- and 15-day activity-estivation cycles. Conversely, GST activity decreased significantly in the 15-day activity-estivation cycle in the midgut gland. SOD activity level in the gill decreased significantly at 15 days of estivation and arousal, and an increase in CAT and GST activity levels were observed in 7-day and 15-day activity-estivation cycles, respectively. In the lung, a significant increase in CAT activity level was only observed during the 7-day cycle. Meanwhile, uric acid concentration rose significantly in the arousal of 7-day estivation in the gill and after 15-day estivation in the midgut gland. This study shows that oxidative stress produced by hypometabolism occurred during short-term estivation in P. canaliculata induced an increase in antioxidant enzymes activity that may protect animal tissues exposed to adverse environmental conditions by preparing for oxidative stress.