Seasonal Effect on Heat Shock Proteins in Fish from Kuwait Bay

Abstract

Heat shock proteins (HSP70) play a significant role in adaptation to temperature and have been proposed as an indicator of cellular stress. Since the water temperature in Kuwait's marine area varies from 13 to 35 degrees C from winter to summer, HSP70 could be a valuable tool in aquaculture in Kuwait. HSP70 levels were quantified by Western blotting in liver, muscle and gill tissues of two varieties of native fish species captured during the winter and summer months from both inside and outside the highly stressed Kuwait Bay area. The HSP70 levels did not differ statistically between fish captured from the two sampling areas. The most common response in both species was higher median levels of HSP70 in winter months. This inverse relation between HSP70 levels in the fish and the water temperature may be due to either genetic adaptation in the fish to the hot climatic conditions of the region or other stressors, such as changes in pollutant levels in the surrounding water.

Genome-wide identification of Hsp70/110 genes in rainbow trout and their regulated expression in response to heat stress

“…The relationship between temperature and oxygen saturation of Carassius carassius ( Rissanen et al, 2006 ), Atlantic salmon ( Olsvik et al, 2013 ) and Cynoglossus semilaevis ( Guo et al, 2016 ) was also be found. Besides being used as biomarkers of physiological stress response ( Beg et al, 2010 ; Wang et al, 2007 ), Hsp70/110 is also involved in the immune response ( Vabulas et al, 2002 ). Cellular immune response is the main overexpressed physiological function of the head kidney under environmental stress ( Verleih et al, 2015 ).…”

Metallothionein, oxidative stress and trace metals in gills and liver of demersal and pelagic fish species from Kuwaits’ marine area

“…However, the toxicity of sediment tested against solid phase Microtox test was higher for sediment from Kuwait Bay area (Beg and Al-Ghadban, 2003). There was a seasonal impact on the accumulation of PAHs (Beg et al, 2009) and the levels of heat shock proteins in fish from the two areas (Beg et al, 2010). The impact of season and reproductive cycle is well established on the accumulation of metals and metallothionein levels (Schiedek et al, 2006;Podrug and Raspor, 2009;Marijic and Raspor, 2010).…”

Cytokine effects and cellular signaling pathways of grass carp HSP70 in head kidney leukocytes

“…Similar to its mammalian counterpart, fish HSP70 is induced in response to a wide variety of physiological and environmental stresses, e.g. temperature variations [17,18], heavy metals [19], toxic chemicals and microbial infection [20,21]. Among these stress responses, the massive induction of HSP70 after bacterial challenge suggests its possible involvement in fish immune response [20,22].…”