title: Apoptosis in fish: environmental factors and programmed cell death.
abstract: Apoptosis, a form of programmed cell death, is a critical component in maintaining homeostasis and growth in all tissues and plays a significant role in immunity and cytotoxicity. In contrast to necrosis or traumatic cell death, apoptosis is a well-controlled and vital process characterized mainly by cytoplasmic shrinkage, chromatin condensation, DNA fragmentation, membrane blebbing and apoptotic bodies. Our understanding of apoptosis is partly based on observations in invertebrates but mainly in mammals. Despite the great advantages of fish models in studying vertebrate development and diseases and the tremendous interest observed in recent years, reports on apoptosis in fish are still limited. Although apoptotic machinery is well conserved between aquatic and terrestrial organisms throughout the history of evolution, some differences exist in key components of apoptotic pathways. Core parts of apoptotic machinery in fish are virtually expressed as equivalent to the mammalian models. Some differences are, however, evident, such as the extrinsic and intrinsic pathways of apoptosis including lack of a C-terminal region in the Fas-associated protein with a death domain in fish. Aquatic species inhabit a complex and highly fluctuating environment, making these species good examples to reveal features of apoptosis that may not be easily investigated in mammals. Therefore, in order to gain a wider view on programmed cell death in fish, interactions between the main environmental factors, chemicals and apoptosis are discussed in this review. It is indicated that apoptosis can be induced in fish by exposure to environmental stressors during different stages of the fish life cycle.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Animal Science and Fisheries, Department of Fisheries, University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, P.O. Box 578, Sari, Iran. anvarifar_hossein@yahoo.co.uk.|University of Applied Science and Technology, Provincial Unit, P.O. Box: 4916694338, Golestan, Iran. anvarifar_hossein@yahoo.co.uk.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: AnvariFar
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Animal Science and Fisheries, Department of Fisheries, University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, P.O. Box 578, Sari, Iran.
authors.forename: Abdolsamad Keramat
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Amirkolaie
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, 49138-15739, Iran.
authors.forename: Hamed Kolangi
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Miandare
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Animal Science and Fisheries, Department of Fisheries, University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, P.O. Box 578, Sari, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ouraji
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, 49138-15739, Iran.|Sturgeon Affairs Management, Gorgan, Golestan, Iran.|Center for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Victoria, 3280, Australia.
authors.forename: M Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Jalali
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Ege University, Bornova, 35100, İzmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sema İşisağ
authors.initials: Sİ
authors.lastname: Üçüncü
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D004777:Environment; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005399:Fishes / Q000502:physiology*; D008018:Life Cycle Stages; D014945:Wound Healing
keywords: Apoptosis; Cell death; Environmental stressors; Fish; Mammals