title: Immune responses and expression of immune-related genes in swimming crab Portunus trituberculatus exposed to elevated ambient ammonia-N stress.
abstract: The effects of ammonia-N (0, 1, 5 and 20mgL(-1)) on immune responses and immune-related gene expression were determined in swimming crab Portunus trituberculatus. The results showed that the THC and phagocytic activity of P. trituberculatus exposed to 1, 5 and 20mgL(-1) ammonia-N decreased significantly during the experimental time. The antibacterial and bacteriolytic activities decreased significantly to the minimum at 6 or 12h respectively, then recovered to the control level except bacteriolytic activity exposed to 5 and 20mgL(-1) ammonia-N. alpha(2)-macroglobulin (alpha(2)-M) activity of all ammonia-N exposure groups decreased significantly, then recovered to the control level rapidly and tended to be stable after 12h. With crabs exposed to 20mgL(-1) ammonia-N, the gene expression levels of crustin and lysozyme decreased significantly, then recovered to the control level after 12h. ALF expression also decreased significantly when exposed to 5 and 20mgL(-1) ammonia-N, then remained stable and significantly lower than the control group after 6h. In contrast, alpha(2)-M gene expression was induced by ammonia-N exposure significantly. The results suggest that high concentration ammonia-N exposure could reduce the crab immunity severely, and induce the short-term response in terms of immune gene regulation.
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Mariculture, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, PR China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yue
authors.forename: Luqing
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Debin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000641:Ammonia / Q000633:toxicity*; D000818:Animals; D003386:Brachyura / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D009113:Muramidase / Q000378:metabolism; D010587:Phagocytosis / Q000187:drug effects; D013550:Swimming; D000511:alpha-Macroglobulins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000511:alpha-Macroglobulins; D000641:Ammonia; D009113:Muramidase