Ammonia stress under high environmental ammonia induces Hsp70 and Hsp90 in the mud eel, Monopterus cuchia

Hnunlalliani Hangzo, Bodhisattwa Banerjee, Shrabani Saha, Nirmalendu Saha

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

32 Scopus citations

Abstract

The obligatory air-breathing mud eel (Monopterus cuchia) is frequently being challenged with high environmental ammonia (HEA) exposure in its natural habitats. The present study investigated the possible induction of heat shock protein 70 and 90 (hsp70, hsc70, hsp90α and hsp90β) genes and more expression of Hsp70 and Hsp90 proteins under ammonia stress in different tissues of the mud eel after exposure to HEA (50 mM NH4Cl) for 14 days. HEA resulted in significant accumulation of toxic ammonia in different body tissues and plasma, which was accompanied with the stimulation of oxidative stress in the mud eel as evidenced by more accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) during exposure to HEA. Further, hyper-ammonia stress led to significant increase in the levels of mRNA transcripts for inducible hsp70 and hsp90α genes and also their translated proteins in different tissues probably as a consequence of induction of hsp70 and hsp90α genes in the mud eel. However, hyper-ammonia stress was neither associated with any significant alterations in the levels of mRNA transcripts for constitutive hsc70 and hsp90β genes nor their translated proteins in any of the tissues studied. More abundance of Hsp70 and Hsp90α proteins might be one of the strategies adopted by the mud eel to defend itself from the ammonia-induced cellular damages under ammonia stress. Further, this is the first report of ammonia-induced induction of hsp70 and hsp90α genes under hyper-ammonia stress in any freshwater air-breathing teleost.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)77-88
Number of pages12
JournalFish Physiology and Biochemistry
Volume43
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Feb 2017
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

Funding

This study was supported by a project sanctioned to NS by the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, the DSA programme to the Department of Zoology and the UPE-Bioscience project to the North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, by the University Grants Commission, New Delhi. HH was the recipient of Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship from the University Grants Commission, New Delhi.

FundersFunder number
University Grants Commission

    Keywords

    • Ammonia toxicity
    • Heat shock protein 70
    • Heat shock protein 90
    • Hyper-ammonia stress
    • Monopterus cuchia
    • Oxidative stress

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