Oxidants and antioxidants in aquatic animals.
1. Oxidative stress, potentially, is experienced by all aerobic life when antioxidant defenses are overcome by prooxidant forces, and is the basis of many physiological abberations. 2. Environmental contaminants may enhance oxidative stress in aquatic organisms, e.g. highly elevated rates of ideopathic lesions and neoplasia among fish inhabiting polluted environments is increasingly related to oxidative stress associated with environmental pollution. 3. Metabolism of redox cycling xenobiotics in aquatic organisms is very similar to that of mammals suggesting similarities in the health consequences of exposure to such compounds. 4. The expression of specific lesions known to arise specifically from oxidative stress, e.g. lipid peroxidation, oxidized bases in DNA and accumulation of lipofuscin pigments are present in many aquatic animals exposed to contaminants. 5. Aquatic organisms contain the major antioxidant enzymes SOD, catalase and glutathione peroxidase, albeit there are marked quantitative differences among the various species reported.
Department of Biochemistry, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge 70803.
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Winston
D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants; D005609:Free Radicals; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation / Q000187:drug effects; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction / Q000187:drug effects*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*
D000975:Antioxidants; D005609:Free Radicals; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical