The inhibitory effect of environmental ammonia on Danio rerio LPS induced acute phase response

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2012

Authors

Goncalves, AF (Author) Other; Pascoa, I (Author) Other; Neves, JV (Author) Other; Coimbra, J (Author) Other; Vijayan, MM (Author) Other; Rodrigues, P (Author) ICBAS; Wilson, JM (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Developmental and Comparative Immunology

Vol. 36

Pages: 279-288

ISSN: 0145-305X

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 18 Citations

Scopus - 20 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Medical and Health sciences > Basic medicine

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-002-DQS

DOI: 10.1016/j.dci.2011.04.008

Abstract (EN): Ammonia is a toxic by-product of amino acid catabolism and a common environmental pollutant that has been associated with increased disease susceptibility in fish although the mechanism is not well understood. We addressed the hypothesis that elevated environmental ammonia acts by impairing the acute phase response (APR). Specifically, we determined the impact of sub-lethal acute (24 h) and chronic (14 d) ammonia exposure on acute phase protein gene expression in zebrafish (Danio rerio) in response to a challenge with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS: i.p. 10 mu g/g after 24 h). A panel of LPS-responsive genes (SAA, HAMP, LECT2, Hp and IL1 beta) were identified and evaluated by real-time quantitative PCR. Ammonia was found to impair induction of SAA, HAMP and LECT2 by 50-90%. Both short (15 min, 1 h and 24 h) and long-term (14 days) exposure to high environmental ammonia concentrations significantly elevated whole-body cortisol levels compared with control fish. Our results reveal for the first time that exposure to high environmental levels of ammonia suppresses the innate immune response in fish. We hypothesize that high environmental ammonia-mediated elevation of cortisol levels in zebrafish may be playing a key role in this immunosuppression, while the mechanisms involved remains to be elucidated.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 10