Seasonal variation of xanthine oxidoreductase activity in the digestive gland cells of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis: A biochemical, histochemical and immunochemical study
I. Cancio et Mp. Cajaraville, Seasonal variation of xanthine oxidoreductase activity in the digestive gland cells of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis: A biochemical, histochemical and immunochemical study, BIO CELL, 91(8), 1999, pp. 605-615
The activity and the tissue distribution of the oxygen radical producing en
zyme xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) were measured in the digestive gland of
the common marine mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis Lmk along an annual cycl
e. No xanthine oxidase (XOX) activity could be measured, the enzyme only di
splaying xanthine dehydrogenase (XDH) activity in all the cases. This is in
terpreted as a mechanism to avoid the harmful effects of the oxygen radical
s that would be produced by XOX during periods following anoxic conditions
at low tide. The highest XDH activities coincided with the late spring/earl
y summer months, the activity maxima being recorded from May to July. Histo
chemically XOR activity was very pronounced in duct and stomach epithelial
cells as well as in the surrounding connective tissue and hemolymph vessels
, the activity increasing towards the summer months. These seasonal variati
ons in XDH or XOR activities are possibly linked to hormonal changes govern
ing the reproductive cycle and to changes in food availability. The localiz
ation of the protein in the connective tissue lining the hemolymph vessels
was confirmed immunohistochemically using a polyclonal antibody against rat
liver protein that cross-reacted specifically with a polypeptide of 150 kD
a of molecular mass in homogenates of the digestive gland. This polypeptide
was linked to cytosolic fractions isolated by differential centrifugation
from mussel digestive glands. In paraffin sections the antibody labeled the
digestive cells of digestive tubules, as well as the connective tissue sur
rounding the hemolymph vessels, gonadal follicles, digestive epithelia and
certain protozoan parasites. Taken together our results suggest that in the
digestive gland of bi bivalve molluscs XOR is involved in the metabolism o
f purines and in the scavenging of oxygen free radicals. (C) 1999 Editions
scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.