Exposure to microplastics renders immunity of the thick-shell mussel more vulnerable to diarrhetic shellfish toxin-producing harmful algae.

Despite both microplastics (MPs) and harmful algae blooms (HABs) may pose a severe threat to the immunity of marine bivalves, the toxification mechanism underlying is far from being fully understood. In addition, owing to the prevalence and sudden occurrence characteristics of MPs and HABs, respectively, bivalves with MP-exposure experience may face acute challenge of harmful algae under realistic scenarios. However, little is known about the impacts and underlying mechanisms of MP-exposure experience on the susceptibility of immunity to HABs in bivalve mollusks. Taking polystyrene MPs and diarrhetic shellfish toxin-producing Prorocentrum lima as representatives, the impacts of MP-exposure on immunity vulnerability to HABs were investigated in the thick-shell mussel, Mytilus coruscus. Our results revealed evident immunotoxicity of MPs and P. lima to the mussel, as evidenced by significantly impaired total count, phagocytic activity, and cell viability of haemocytes, which may result from the induction of oxidative stress, aggravation of haemocyte apoptosis, and shortage in cellular energy supply. Moreover, marked disruptions of immunity, antioxidant system, apoptosis regulation, and metabolism upon MPs and P. lima exposure were illustrated by gene expression and comparative metabolomic analyses. Furthermore, the mussels that experienced MP-exposure were shown to be more vulnerable to P. lima, indicated by greater degree of deleterious effects on abovementioned parameters detected. In general, our findings emphasize the threat of MPs and HABs to bivalve species, which deserves close attention and more investigation.

Responses of ABCB and ABCC transporters to the toxic dinoflagellate Prorocentrum lima in the mussel Perna viridis.

Bivalve mollusks can accumulate diarrheic shellfish poisoning (DSP) toxins through filter-feeding, but they exhibit some resistance to the toxins. Previous studies have suggested that the ABC transporters may have an important role in the resistance to DSP toxins, but comprehensive studies are lacking. In this study, we comprehensively analyzed the distribution of ABC transporters in the mussel Perna viridis, and observed responses of ABCB and ABCC transporters to the DSP toxins-producing dinoflagellate Prorocentrum lima. Total 39 members of ABC transporters were identified in P. viridis, including 3 full PvABCBs, 3 half PvABCBs, and 7 PvABCCs transporters. We found that PvABCBs and PvABCCs subfamilies were expressed in hemocytes, gills and digestive gland with some difference, especially in hemocytes. After exposure to P. lima, PvABCBs and PvABCCs displayed different expression changes in different tissues. The short-term (3 h) exposure to P. lima induced the transcription of PvABCB1_like1, PvABCB6, PvABCC1, PvABCC1_like and PvABCC1/3, and the longer-term (96 h) exposure increased the transcription of PvABCB1, PvABCB1_like, PvABCB10, PvABCC1 and PvABCC1_like1 in gills and PvABCC10 in digestive gland. These results suggest that different types of PvABCBs and PvABCCs in P. viridis may contribute to the detoxification of DSP toxins in different tissues at different time after exposure to DSP toxins. Our finding provides new evidence for further understanding the role of ABC transporters in the tolerance of mussel to DSP toxins.

Responses of JNK signaling pathway to the toxic dinoflagellate Prorocentrum lima in the mussel Perna viridis.

Diarrheic shellfish poisoning (DSP) toxins are widely distributed over the world, causing diarrhea, vomiting, and even tumor in human. However, bivalves, the main carrier of the DSP toxins, have some tolerant mechanisms to DSP toxins, though it remains unclear. In this study, we scrutinized the role of Jun N-terminal kinases (JNK) in tolerance of DSP toxins and the relationship between JNK, apoptosis and nuclear factor E2-related factor/antioxidant response element (Nrf2/ARE) pathways. We found that the phosphorylated level of JNK protein was significantly increased both in hemocytes (6 h) and gills (3 h) of the mussel Perna viridis after short-term exposure to DSP toxins-producing dinoflagellate Prorocentrum lima. Exposure of P. lima induced oxidative stress in mussels. Hemocytes and gills displayed different sensitivities to the cytotoxicity of DSP toxins. Exposure of P. lima activated caspase-3 and induced apoptosis in gills but did not induce caspase-3 and apoptosis in hemocytes. The short-term exposure of P. lima could activate Nrf2/ARE signaling pathway in hemocytes (6 h), while longer-term exposure could induce glutathione reductase (GR) expression in hemocytes (96 h) and glutathione-S-transferases (GST) in gills (96 h). Based on the phylogenetic tree of Nrf2, Nrf2 in P. viridis was closely related to that in other mussels, especially Mytilus coruscus, but far from that in Mus musculus. The most likely phosphorylated site of Nrf2 in the mussels P. viridis is threonine 504 for JNK, which is different from that in M. musculus. Taken all together, the tolerant mechanism of P. viridis to DSP toxins might be involved in JNK and Nrf2/ARE signaling pathways, and JNK play a key role in the mechanism. Our findings provide a new clue to further understand tolerant mechanisms of bivalves to DSP toxins.

Anti-inflammatory Dendranacetylene A, a new polyacetylene glucoside from the flower of Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat.

A new polyacetylene glucoside, Dendranacetylene A (1), and a known compound 8E-decaene-4,6-diyn-1-O-ß-d-glucopyranosyl-(1"→2")-ß-d-glucopyranoside (2) were isolated from the flowers of Dendranthema morifolium (Ramat.) kitam. The chemical structures of these compounds were elucidated by NMR and HR-ESI-MS analysis, and comparing these results with data reported in literatures. Additionally, the anti-inflammatory effects of compounds 1 and 2 were evaluated on RAW264.7 murine macrophage cells induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The two compounds significantly inhibited the NO production in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 murine macrophage cells and exhibited anti-inflammatory effects.

Four C-geranyl flavonoids from the flowers of Paulownia fortunei and their anti-inflammatory activity.

Four new C-geranyl flavonoids, paulownione D-G (1-4) were isolated from the 50% acetone-H2O extract of the flowers of Paulownia fortunei. The structures of the compounds were determined by extensive spectroscopic analyses (UV, IR, HR-ESI-MS, 1D and 2D NMR). All of the compounds (1-4) exhibited potent protection effects in H9c2 cardiocytes against the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation.