title: Sea urchin embryos as a model system for studying autophagy induced by cadmium stress.
abstract: It is well known that sea urchin embryos are able to activate different defense strategies against stress. We previously demonstrated that cadmium treatment triggers the accumulation of metal in embryonic cells and the activation of defense systems depending on concentration and exposure time, through the synthesis of heat shock proteins and/or the initiation of apoptosis. Here we show that Paracentrotus lividus embryos exposed to Cd adopt autophagy as an additional stratagem to safeguard the developmental program. At present, there are no data focusing on the role of this process in embryo development of marine organisms.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Molecolari e Biomolecolari (sez. Biologia Cellulare), Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chiarelli
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Agnello
authors.forename: Maria Carmela
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Roccheri
mesh_terms: D000165:Acridine Orange / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy / Q000187:drug effects*; D002104:Cadmium / Q000633:toxicity*; D003720:Densitometry; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D015151:Immunoblotting; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D009499:Neutral Red / Q000378:metabolism; D015388:Organelles / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D047328:Paracentrotus / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000196:embryology*; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D002104:Cadmium; D009499:Neutral Red; D000165:Acridine Orange