Biomarkers of oxidative damage and antioxidant defense capacity in Caiman latirostris blood

POLETTA, GISELA L.; MUDRY, MARTA D.; SIMONIELLO, MA. FERNANDA

COMPARATIVE BIOCHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY. TOXICOLOGY & PHARMACOLOGY

ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016 vol. 179 p. 29 - 36

1532-0456

Several xenobiotics, and among them pesticides, can produce oxidative stress, providing a mechanistic basis fortheir observed toxicity. Chronic oxidative stress induces deleterious modifications to DNA, lipids and proteinsthat are used as effective biomarkers to study pollutant-mediated oxidative stress. No previous report existed on the application of oxidative damage and antioxidant defense biomarkers in Caiman latirostris blood, whilefew studies reported in other crocodilians were done in organs or muscles of dead animals. The aim of this studywas to characterize a newset of oxidative stress biomarkers in C. latirostris blood, through the modificationof conventional techniques: 1) damage to lipids by thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), 2) damage to DNA by comet assay modified with the enzymes FPG and Endo III, and 3) antioxidant defenses: catalase, superoxidedismutase and glutathione; in order to apply them in future biomonitoring studies. We successfully adapted standard procedures for CAT, SOD, GSH and TBARS determination in C. latirostris blood. Calibration curves for FPG and Endo III showed that the three dilutions tested were appropriate to conduct the modifiedcomet assay for the detection of oxidized bases in C. latirostris erythrocytes. One hour of incubation allowed acomplete repair of the damage generated. The incorporation of these biomarkers in biomonitoring studies of caiman populations exposed to xenobiotics is highly important considering that this species has recovered from a serious endangered state through the implementation of sustainable use programs in Argentina, and represents nowadays a relevant economic resource for many human communities