Sex Associated Effects of Noise Pollution in Stone Sculpin (Paracottus knerii) as a Model Object in the Context of Human-Induced Rapid Environmental Change

Abstract

This work simulates the consequences of HIREC using stone sculpins as model organisms. Sex-dependent effects of long-term noise exposure at mean sound pressure levels of 160–179 dB re 1 μPa (SPLpk–pk) were measured. We applied a multilevel approach to testing the stress response: a comparative analysis of the macula sacculi and an assessment of hematological and molecular stress responses. Noise exposure resulted in hair cell loss, changes in some cytometric parameters in blood, and an increase in the number of functionally active mitochondria in the red blood cells of males and its decrease in females, demonstrating a mitochondrial allostatic load and depletion of functional reserve. Finally, a statistically significant decrease in the telomerase activity of the auditory epithelium and a shortening of telomere length in the brain as molecular markers of stress were observed after noise exposure only in females. No significant decrease in telomerase activity and shortening of telomere length in nerve target tissues were observed in stressed males. However, we recorded an increase in the telomerase activity in male gonads. This sex-dependent difference in load may be associated with accelerated cellular aging in females and lower stress-related long-term risk in males. In this article, we discuss possible reasons for these noise-induced stress effects.

Thermal Preconditioning Alters the Stability of Hump-Snout Whitefish (Coregonus fluviatilis) and Its Hybrid Form, Showing Potential for Aquaculture

“…Sampling was carried out on day 6 (Sampling 1, short-term effect) and day 20 (Sampling 2, delayed effect) after exposure to lethal temperature (Figure 1). The time frame used in this work has been shown to be effective for assessing other stressors in previous studies [61,62].…”

“…Using techniques previously tested in other animal species, we calculated the mitochondrial membrane potential of red blood cells as a measure of cell condition [61,62,64]. In summary, the red blood cells were incubated in Medium 199 with MitoTracker Orange (100-500 nM, Life Technologies, Waltham, MA, USA) and Hank's salts (PanEko, Moscow, Russia, Cat.…”

“…The formula for the area of an ellipse was used to compute the cell area (S), nuclear area (s), and nuclear-tocytoplasmic ratio (NCR) of red blood cells. Another quantitative measure of red blood cell shape was numerical eccentricity (E) [61,62,65].…”

“…Next, we measured telomerase activity using a real-time telomere repeat amplification protocol (Q-TRAP) [61,62] in order to supplement the telomere length measurements. Using CHAPS buffer, the total protein was extracted from the liver and gills of control and experimental fish as mentioned in Yip et al [69].…”

Effects on Biomarkers in Stress Ecology Studies. Well, So What? What Now?

“…Yulia Sapozhnikova et al [ 4 ] published their paper on the sex-associated effects of noise pollution in a vertebrate, the fish stone sculpin ( Paracottus knerii ), by performing a comparative analysis of the macula sacculi and an assessment of haematological and molecular stress responses. From the addressed endpoints, exposure to noise resulted in changes in some cytometric parameters in blood, hair cell loss, and an increase in the number of functionally active mitochondria in the red blood cells of males and its decrease in females.…”