Experiments tested the hypothesis that one role of protein in embryo culture media is protection of embryos against potentially embryotoxic substances in the media. Mouse embryos were cultured in modified Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate medium and in modified Tyrode's medium, aliquots of which were supplemented with 4 mg/ml of the protein bovine serum albumin (BSA), while other aliquots were left protein free. The media were prepared using water samples that differed in purity, as reflected by differences in conductivity, with tap water being least pure (and considered to have the greatest potential for being embryotoxic) and water that had been purified by reverse osmosis, Milli-Q filtration, and triple distillation being most pure. Embryos were placed in the media while in the two-cell stage of development and their development was assessed after 24, 48, and 72 hr of culture. Rate of embryo development in BSA-supplemented media was greater than that in protein-free media only when the media were prepared with the least purified water samples. Because these water samples would have contained substances not contained in media prepared with purer water, or would have contained the substances in higher concentration, the data supported the hypothesis that protein can protect embryos during culture by negating effects of embryotoxic substances in the media.
Hepatic microsomal factors were investigated in red drum Sciaenops ocellatits, an important aquaculture and sportlish species. Constitutive and induced levels of microsomal cytochrome P-450 and P-420, catalytic activities of 7-ethoxyresorufm 6>-deethylase (KROD) and NADPH-eytochrome-f reductase, and the extent of membrane lipid peroxidation were compared in juvenile farm-raised and wild fish. We detected smaller amounts of active cytochrome P-450 and more cytochrome P-420. the denatured form of cylochrome P-450, in farm-raised than in wild red drum. Lipid peroxide formation was significantly higher and HROD catalytic activity was decreased in farm-raised red drum, whereas wild fish exhibited significantly higher levels of cylochrome P-450 and EROD activiiy. No significant alterations in NADPH-cytochrome-r reductase activity were observed in farm-raised fish. The livers from farm-raised red drum had higher levels of cellular lipid. which correlated with higher levels of lipid peroxides and were apparently associated with the loss of active cytochrome P-450. These data indicate that farm-raised tish ted a commercial, potentially lipogenic. diet may be less capable of metabolizing endobiotics, drugs, and hydrocarbon pollutants, and suggest that substantially increased hepatic lipid deposition may have potentially dangerous toxicologicai implications for these animals.
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