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First published online April 18, 2008
Journal of Experimental Biology 211, 1426-1433 (2008)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2008
doi: 10.1242/jeb.015859
Aldehyde-encapsulating liposomes impair marine grazer survivorship
1 Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Napoli, Italy
2 Dipartimento di Chimica Farmaceutica e Tossicologica, Università degli
Studi di Napoli Federico II, Via D. Montesano 49, 80131 Napoli, Italy
* Author for correspondence (e-mail: buttino{at}szn.it)
Accepted 2 March 2008
In the last decade, there has been an increased awareness that secondary
metabolites produced by marine diatoms negatively impact the reproductive
success of their principal predators, the copepods. Several oxylipins,
products of the enzymatic oxidation of fatty acids, are produced when these
unicellular algae are damaged, as occurs during grazing. In the past, the
dinoflagellate Prorocentrum minimum, which does not produce the
oxylipin 2-trans,4-trans-decadienal (DD), has been used as a
live carrier to calculate daily ingestion rates of this molecule by copepod
crustaceans. However, since the interaction between oxylipins and live
carriers is unknown, the question as to how much and for how long ingestion of
these molecules affects copepod reproduction remains a critical point to
understanding the functional role of such compounds at sea. In the
investigation presented here we used giant liposomes (
7 µm) as a
delivery system for the oxylipin DD, prepared in the same size range as
copepod food and containing known amounts of DD. The aim of this work was to
relate the ingestion of DD to the reproductive failure of the copepods
Temora stylifera and Calanus helgolandicus. Liposomes were
very stable over time and after 10 days of feeding, liposomes encapsulating DD
reduced egg hatching success and female survival with a concomitant appearance
of apoptosis in both copepod embryos and female tissues. Concentrations of DD
inducing blockage were one order of magnitude lower that those used in
classical feeding experiments demonstrating that liposomes are a useful tool
to quantitatively analyze the impact of toxins on copepods.
Key words: copepod, diatom, decadienal, reproduction, egg viability, apoptosis
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