Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Shin, P.K.S.
• Leung, J.Y.S.
• Qiu, J.W.
• Ang, P.O.
• Chiu, J.M.Y.
• Thiyagarajan, V.
• Cheung, S.G.

Titel

Acute hypoxic exposure affects gamete quality and subsequent fertilization success and embryonic development in a serpulid polychaete

Ist Teil von

• Marine pollution bulletin, 2014-08, Vol.85 (2), p.439-445

Ort / Verlag

Kidlington: Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2014

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• •Sperm swimming activity dropped under hypoxia but not the egg size, complexity and viability.•Fertilization success was strongly associated with sperm motility.•Gametes exposed to hypoxia for 30min affected fertilization success and embryo malformation.•Embryo development decreased with increasing duration of exposure to hypoxia. Hypoxia likely compromises the reproductive success of those marine organisms carrying out external fertilization because their gametes and embryos are inevitably exposed to the external environment. Hydroides elegans, a dominant serpulid polychaete in Hong Kong waters, can spawn throughout the year but the number of recruits drops during summer when hypoxia commonly occurs. This study attempted to explain such observation by investigating the gamete quality, including sperm motility, egg size, complexity and viability, after 1-h hypoxic exposure (1mg O2l−1). In addition, how gamete quality affects fertilization success and embryonic development was examined. After 1-h hypoxic exposure, sperm motility was significantly reduced, compromising fertilization success. Although the eggs remained viable, more malformed embryos and retarded embryonic development were observed. We interpreted that the harmful effect of hypoxia on embryonic development was attributed to the teratogenicity and induced oxidative stress, ultimately causing the reduction in recruitment during summer.