Silicone stressed response of crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) in antioxidant enzyme activity and related gene expression

Md Muzammel Hossain^aHengliang Huang^aYuan Yuan^aTianyin Wan^aChengfeng Jiang^aZhihua Dai^aShuanglian Xiong^aMenghua Cao^aShuxin Tu^ab

Organosilicon has been widely used in various fields of industry and agriculture due to its excellent properties, such as high and low temperature resistance, flame retardan, insulation, radiation resistance and physiological inertia. However, organosilicon toxicity in aquatic animals is seldom known. In this research, two typical silicone or silane coupling agents (KH-560 (3-Glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane) and KH-570 (3-Methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane)) were used in a hydroponic experiment to evaluate the effects on survival rate, antioxidant response and gene expression in red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii). Crayfishes were grown in black aquaculture boxes containing different concentrations (0, 10, 100 and 1000 mg L⁻¹) of KH-560 and KH-570 for 72 h, and then crayfish samples were harvested and separated into tissues of carapace, gill and muscle for analysis. The results showed that silicone significantly increased malondialdehyde (MDA) content in muscle by 17%–38% except for the treatment of 100 mg L⁻¹ KH-570, and reduced the survival rate of crayfish. Additionally, silicone KH-570 increased the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) by 15%–31%, 17%–35%, and 9%–46%, as well as the contents of ascorbate (AsA) and glutathione (GSH) by 19%–31%, and 23%–29% respectively, in muscle tissue, and similar results occurred in KH-560. In the carapace, however, SOD activity was significantly decreased at high concentrations level of both silicone treatments. Moreover, silicon (Si) content was higher in the abdominal muscle of crayfish after silicone treatment. Assay of gene expression showed an obvious increasing expression of antioxidant related genes (Sod1, Sod2, Cat1, Cat2, and Pod1, Pod2) under silicone stress. The above results suggested that silicone caused an obvious stress response in crayfish in both biochemical and molecular levels.

Sources, Environmental Pollution, Volume 274, 1 April 2021, 115836: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115836