Heat shock proteins are chaperones that play a pivotal role in controling multiple regulatory pathways such as stress defense, hormone signaling, cell cycle control, cell proliferation and differentiation, and apoptosis. In this study, the expression patterns of four well-known heat shock genes (hsp70, hsc70-1, hsc70-2 and hsp90α) were characterized in the skin, spleen and blood cells of the common carp, under unstressed conditions and after Cd2+ treatment or hypothermia. The examined genes were expressed in a tissue-specific manner: hsc70-2 was expressed constitutively, and was at best only slightly inducible; hsp90α exhibited a high basic expression in all three tissues, whereas hsc70-1 did so only in the blood cells, the expression of hsp70 proved to be below the level of detection in unstressed fish. Cold shock induced the expression of hsp genes in the spleen (hsp90α) and blood cells (hsp70, hsc70-1 and hsp90α), while Cd2+ treatment has no effect on the expression pattern. The highest inducibilities were detected in the skin: for hsp70 an induction of at least 20-fold after cadmium exposure, for hsc70-1 of at least 30-fold and for hsp90α of 3-fold after hypothermia.
Treatments with copper sulphate (CuSO4), paraquat (PQ) and methidathion (MD) caused tissue damage and stress effects in carp, indicated by the increased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT), and glutamate dehydrogenase (GIDH) enzyme activities and elevated blood-sugar levels. Copper sulphate, administered together with PQ and MD, were synergistic in terms of tissue damage and stress effects. The isoenzyme patterns showed organ-specific tissue damage. The administered chemical and isoenzymes indicating liver damage were detectable in the blood. The combination of CuSO4 and MD caused focal cell necrosis, which was observable in the liver tissue by light microscopy. Electron microscopic studies revealed the presence of damaged parenchymal cells with electron transparent cytoplasms, myelin figures, and altered mitochondria ER and Golgi.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.