Influence of Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg) sexual maturation stage and ploidy on uptake of paralytic phycotoxins.

The purpose of this study was to assess paralytic phycotoxin uptake in diploid and triploid oysters at two stages of their sexual cycle corresponding to their status in early summer (June) and winter (November). Samples of diploid and triploid oysters were exposed to a toxic culture of Alexandrium minutum for 4 days in each season. No significant differences in filtration or clearance rates were observed during either November or June experiments. When diploid oysters were at resting stage (November), toxin uptake showed no significant difference between the ploidy classes. In contrast, when the diploid oysters were at the peak of their sexual maturation (June), the triploid oysters were seen to accumulate almost double the amount of paralytic toxins as the diploid ones.

Effects of Alexandrium minutum exposure upon physiological and hematological variables of diploid and triploid oysters, Crassostrea gigas.

The effects of an artificial bloom of the toxin-producing dinoflagellate, Alexandrium minutum, upon physiological parameters of the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, were assessed. Diploid and triploid oysters were exposed to cultured A. minutum and compared to control diploid and triploid oysters fed T. Isochrysis. Experiments were repeated twice, in April and mid-May 2007, to investigate effects of maturation stage on oyster responses to A. minutum exposure. Oyster maturation stage, Paralytic Shellfish Toxin (PST) accumulation, as well as several digestive gland and hematological variables, were assessed at the ends of the exposures. In both experiments, triploid oysters accumulated more PSTs (approximately twice) than diploid oysters. Significant differences, in terms of phenoloxidase activity (PO) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production of hemocytes, were observed between A. minutum-exposed and non-exposed oysters. PO in hemocytes was lower in oysters exposed to A. minutum than in control oysters in an early maturation stage (diploids and triploids in April experiment and triploids in May experiment), but this contrast was reversed in ripe oysters (diploids in May experiment). In the April experiment, granulocytes of oysters exposed to A. minutum produced more ROS than those of control oysters; however, in the May experiment, ROS production of granulocytes was lower in A. minutum-exposed oysters. Moreover, significant decreases in free fatty acid, monoacylglycerol, and diacylglycerol contents in digestive glands of oysters exposed to A. minutum were observed. Concurrently, the ratio of reserve lipids (triacylglycerol, ether glycerides and sterol esters) to structural lipids (sterols) decreased upon A. minutum exposure in both experiments. Also, several physiological responses to A. minutum exposure appeared to be modulated by maturation stage as well as ploidy of the oysters.

Cathepsin K expression is diminished in infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

UNLABELLED: The expression of a potent collagenolytic enzyme, cathepsin K, was measured in repeated tracheal aspirate samples from premature infants with and without a chronic lung disorder, bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). At 9--13 d, but not before, cathepsin K expression was significantly lower in the lungs of premature infants developing BPD. CONCLUSION: Insufficient pulmonary cathepsin K in BPD may predispose premature lungs to pulmonary fibrosis.