Sipunculan celomocytes increase the resistance to H2O2-induced cell death under hypoxia

Abstract

Themiste petricola is a marine intertidal endolithic worm that experiences transient hypoxia within its habitat, owing to natural sediment movements or increased organic enrichment. We characterized and quantified the cytotoxic effect of H2O2 in celomocytes of the sipunculan Themiste petricola under normoxia and hypoxia (O2 < 0.1 %) through the median effect method. The 50 % cell death H2O2 dose at 24 h (EC50) under normoxia was 1.5 mM. The range EC10-EC90 was 0.6 mM - 3.9 mM. The fraction of cells having collapsed mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) was increased dose-dependently after 3 h exposure with 24 h cytotoxic doses of H2O2 from EC10 to EC90. The 24 h cytotoxic dose inducing 50 % of cells with collapsed MMP at 3 h was 3.67 mM. Intracellular superoxide anion production was increased dose-dependently, while reduced glutathione was decreased dose-dependently at 3 h with H2O2 from EC10 to EC90. Exposure to 24 h hypoxia did not cause cell death but induced intracellular acidification. The 24 h EC50 of H2O2 under hypoxia was increased to 4.7 mM while the range EC10-EC90 was increased to 0.9 mM - 25.1 mM. We conclude that hypoxia induces anaerobic metabolism and increases tolerance to H2O2-induced cell death in celomocytes of Themiste petricola preserving the immune functions and providing an advantage to survive under low oxygen tension.