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Anoxia-induced changes in reactive oxygen species and cyclic nucleotides in the painted turtle

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Abstract

The Western painted turtle survives months without oxygen. A key adaptation is a coordinated reduction of cellular ATP production and utilization that may be signaled by changes in the concentrations of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and cyclic nucleotides (cAMP and cGMP). Little is known about the involvement of cyclic nucleotides in the turtle’s metabolic arrest and ROS have not been previously measured in any facultative anaerobes. The present study was designed to measure changes in these second messengers in the anoxic turtle. ROS were measured in isolated turtle brain sheets during a 40-min normoxic to anoxic transition. Changes in cAMP and cGMP were determined in turtle brain, pectoralis muscle, heart and liver throughout 4 h of forced submergence at 20–22°C. Turtle brain ROS production decreased 25% within 10 min of cyanide or N2-induced anoxia and returned to control levels upon reoxygenation. Inhibition of electron transfer from ubiquinol to complex III caused a smaller decrease in [ROS]. Conversely, inhibition of complex I increased [ROS] 15% above controls. In brain [cAMP] decreased 63%. In liver [cAMP] doubled after 2 h of anoxia before returning to control levels with prolonged anoxia. Conversely, skeletal muscle and heart [cAMP] remained unchanged; however, skeletal muscle [cGMP] became elevated sixfold after 4 h of submergence. In liver and heart [cGMP] rose 41 and 127%, respectively, after 2 h of anoxia. Brain [cGMP] did not change significantly during 4 h of submergence. We conclude that turtle brain ROS production occurs primarily between mitochondrial complexes I and III and decreases during anoxia. Also, cyclic nucleotide concentrations change in a manner suggestive of a role in metabolic suppression in the brain and a role in increasing liver glycogenolysis.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Milt Charlton for his advice regarding fluorescent recordings, and the use of his fluorescent microscopy system. This research was supported by an NSERC discovery grant to LTB. All Experiments comply with the “Principles of animal care,” publication No. 86-23, revised 1985 of the National Institute of Health, and also with the current laws of Canada.

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  1. Department of Cell and Systems Biology, and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Harbord St., Toronto, ON, Canada, M5S 3G5

    Matthew Edward Pamenter, Michael David Richards & Leslie Thomas Buck

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  1. Matthew Edward Pamenter
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  2. Michael David Richards
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  3. Leslie Thomas Buck
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Correspondence to Leslie Thomas Buck.

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Communicated by H.V. Carey.

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Pamenter, M.E., Richards, M.D. & Buck, L.T. Anoxia-induced changes in reactive oxygen species and cyclic nucleotides in the painted turtle. J Comp Physiol B 177, 473–481 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-007-0145-8

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