title: Exposure of Persian sturgeon (Acipenser persicus) to cadmium results in biochemical, histological and transcriptional alterations.
abstract: Sturgeon is one of the endangered families of fish in the Caspian Sea region, where there is up to 80% of their global caching. Unfortunately, in recent years, increase of pollutants has been resulted in their total population reduction. Due to their benthic nature, sturgeons are at great risk of exposing to contaminants such as cadmium. Despite their endangered status in the Caspian Sea, there are only a few studies on characterizing the relative sensitivity of sturgeons to cadmium. Adverse effects associated with pollution on angiogenesis are mediated by hypoxia inducing factor-1 (HIF-1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). In this investigation, gene expression of two distinct HIFs-1, HIF-1α and HIF-2α, and VEGF was investigated at the mRNA transcript levels after exposure of Persian sturgeon (Acipenser persicus) to cadmium. VEGF, HIF-1α and HIF-2α expressions in treated Persian sturgeon were greater than controls. Significant increases (P<0.05) were also observed in cortisol and glucose levels compared to the control group especially in the fish exposed to higher cadmium concentration (800 μg/L). Plasma aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH) levels were increased in the cadmium-exposed fish, although the observed increases were not significant between the control and 200 μg/L cadmium treatment at some sampling time points. Gill tissues also showed histopathological changes in the cadmium treatments. Overall, results indicated that cadmium resulted in some alterations in biochemical parameters, mRNA transcript level expression of two important angiogenesis related genes as well as histological alterations in Persian sturgeon.
authors.affiliation: Department of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran. Electronic address: hkolangi@gau.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Hamed Kolangi
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Miandare
authors.affiliation: Department of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahtab
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Niknejad
authors.affiliation: Department of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shabani
authors.affiliation: Department of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran.
authors.forename: Roghieh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Safari
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D002104:Cadmium / Q000633:toxicity*; D054750:Ecotoxicology / Q000379:methods; D056727:Endangered Species; D029941:Fish Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005399:Fishes; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D005880:Gills / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood; D051795:Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit / Q000235:genetics; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000235:genetics; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*; D000099162:Endothelial PAS Domain-Containing Protein 1
chemical_list: D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D002104:Cadmium; D029941:Fish Proteins; D006854:Hydrocortisone; D051795:Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D000099162:Endothelial PAS Domain-Containing Protein 1
keywords: Biochemical parameters; Cadmium; Heavy metals; Histopathology; Persian sturgeon; Transcriptional alterations