title: Toxicological in vitro effects of heavy metals on gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.) head-kidney leucocytes.
abstract: Heavy metals provoke toxicological effects on aquatic animal species, including fish, though their effects on fish leucocytes and immunotoxicology are still limited. In the present work the effects of heavy metals (Cd, Hg, Pb or As) on viability, oxidative stress and innate immune parameters of isolated head-kidney leucocytes from gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) are studied. Cytotoxicity results indicated that short exposures (30 min or 2h) to Hg promoted both apoptosis and necrosis cell death of leucocytes whilst Cd, Pb and As did only by apoptosis, in all cases in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. In addition, production of free oxygen radicals was induced by Cd, Hg and As heavy metals. Cd failed to change phagocytosis but Hg and As increased the percentage of phagocytic cells but decreased the number of ingested particles per cell whilst Pb increased both phagocytic parameters. On the other hand, respiratory burst activity was significantly reduced by incubation with Cd, Hg and As but increased with Pb. Furthermore, the gene expression profiles partly support the functional finding of this work. This study provides an in vitro approach for elucidating the heavy metals toxicity, and particularly the immunotoxicity, in fish leucocytes.
authors.affiliation: Fish Innate Immune System Group, Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Biology, Campus Regional de Excelencia Internacional "Campus Mare Nostrum", University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Morcillo
authors.affiliation: Fish Innate Immune System Group, Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Biology, Campus Regional de Excelencia Internacional "Campus Mare Nostrum", University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Héctor
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cordero
authors.affiliation: Fish Innate Immune System Group, Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Biology, Campus Regional de Excelencia Internacional "Campus Mare Nostrum", University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Meseguer
authors.affiliation: Fish Innate Immune System Group, Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Biology, Campus Regional de Excelencia Internacional "Campus Mare Nostrum", University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: María Á
authors.initials: MÁ
authors.lastname: Esteban
authors.affiliation: Fish Innate Immune System Group, Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Biology, Campus Regional de Excelencia Internacional "Campus Mare Nostrum", University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain. Electronic address: alcuesta@um.es.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cuesta
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D019610:Cytoprotection; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000187:drug effects*; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000633:toxicity*; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000187:drug effects; D010587:Phagocytosis / Q000187:drug effects; D016897:Respiratory Burst / Q000187:drug effects; D021541:Sea Bream / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy
keywords: Apoptosis; Gilthead seabream; Heavy metals; Immune system; Oxidative stress; ROS