CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The fishery for the stone crab Paralomis granulosa constitutes one of the most important artisan fisheries in the southern South America. During this process, animals are maintained alive on board exposed to air until they arrive to the factory were they are re-submerged. Since water flow through gills is interrupted during air exposure, reactive oxygen species start to increase triggering oxidative stress. The aim of this work was to determine the levels of antioxidant enzyme activities due to air exposure and re-submersion in different tissues. Forty male crabs of legal size were captured in Beagle Channel (54º 50´S, 68º 20´W) and randomly assigned to 5 groups of 8 crabs. Four groups were exposed to dryness at 6ºC for 6h, and then re-submerged for 0.5, 1, 2 and 24h (recovery periods), respectively, whereas the other group was used as control (not air-exposed). Enzymatic activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione-S transferase (GST) were analyzed in gills, muscle and haemolymph. All tissues showed a significantly increase of enzymatic activities (p< 0.05 in all cases) until 2h of recovery. In all periods, highest antioxidant enzymatic activities were found in gills. After 24h of recovery SOD, CAT and GST activities were similar to the control group. Physiological strategies used by P. granulosa to deal with environmental stress are useful for live transportation to external markets where they can be offered alive and consequently at better prices.

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