Anti-oxidative responses of zebrafish (Danio rerio) gill, liver and brain tissues upon acute cold shock

The present study seeks to detect oxidative damage and to compare anti-oxidative responses among liver, gills and brain of adult zebrafish that were cooled from 28 °C (control) to 12 °C (treatment) for 0-24 h. The lipid peroxidation of liver, gill and brain tissues significantly increased at 1 h after transfer, but reactive oxygen species in the treatment group increased significantly after 24 h as compared to the control. The fish were found to develop a cascading anti-oxidative mechanism beginning with an increase in Cu/Zn-SOD levels, followed by increased CAT and GPx mRNA expressions in the three tissue types. Both smtB and mt2 mRNAs increased in the hepatic and brain tissues following 1 h of cold stress, but only smtB exhibited a significant increase in the gills at 1 h and 6 h after transfer to 12 °C. Furthermore, cellular apoptosis in the brain was not evident after cold shock, but liver and gills showed cellular apoptosis at 1-3 h, with another peak in the liver at 6 h after cold shock. The results suggest that the cold shock induced oxidative stress, and the enzymatic (SOD, GPx and CAT) and non-enzymatic (mt-2 and smt-B) mRNA expressions all play a role in the resulting anti-oxidation within 1-6 h of cold shock. A functional comparison showed that the brain had the most powerful antioxidant defense system of the three tissue types since it had the highest smtB mRNA expression and a lower level of cell apoptosis than the liver and gills after exposure to cold stress.