Oxidative Stress and Antioxidant Defenses in Juvenile Chinese Sturgeon (Acipenser Sinensis) after Prolonged Starvation

摘要

We examined the effects of starvation on the oxidative stress and antioxidant defenses in juvenile Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis) by measuring various blood oxidative stress biomarkers in this study. The oxidative stress biomarkers we investigated included lysozyme (LSZ), the ability of inhibiting hydroxyl radicals (AIHR), and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC). Prior to collection of the first blood samples, the juveniles were fasted for 24 h. Blood samples were taken from fish a total of 8 times, upon sampling every 6 days during the remaining 48-day starvation period. We found that, in general, as the starvation time increased, the LSZ activity of juvenile Chinese sturgeon also increased. Furthermore, we found a significant difference in the LSZ activity of juveniles starved for 43 days compared with four groups starved for 1-19 days. In addition, we found the AIHR of juvenile Chinese sturgeon first increased and subsequently decreased over the course of starvation. Specifically, the AIHR of juveniles was significantly higher in fish after 19 days of starvation than in fish sampled after 37 days of starvation, although there were no other significant differences among the levels for the other groups. The variation of the T-AOC levels of juvenile Chinese sturgeon was higher during the earlier stage of starvation, and was decreased after 19 days of starvation. However, there were no significant differences among the T-AOC groups, except the T-AOC of juveniles starved for 13 days was significantly higher than that of fish starved for 37 days. Based on these changes of LSZ, AIHR, and T-AOC, we conclude that prolonged starvation influenced the antioxidant capability of juvenile Chinese sturgeon, especially after 25 days of starvation.