Unraveling the Red Sea soft coral Sarcophyton convolutum potentials against oxidative and inflammatory stresses in zebrafish.

The Red Sea is one of the world's hotspots for biodiversity, and for marine natural products (MNPs) as well. These MNPs attract special interest for their capabilities to combat inflammatory and oxidative stress-related diseases, being some of the most serious health problems worldwide nowadays. The current study aimed to identify the bioactive ingredients of the Red Sea soft coral Sarcophyton convolutum, and to assess its protective potentials against oxidative and inflammatory stresses. Coral extract (CE) was analyzed using GC-MS and HPLC. In a protection trial, adult zebrafish were intraperitoneally injected with two doses of crab extract, i.e. 50 and 500 µg/fish in 1 % DMSO as a vehicle, then challenged with 30 µg L-1 of CuSO4 for 48 h. All groups, but the negative control one, were challenged with 30 µg L-1 of CuSO4. Total antioxidant activity, as well as mRNA levels of proinflammatory markers and antioxidant enzyme genes were measured. The results showed richness of S. convolutum extract with various bioactive ingredients, including phenolic compounds, flavonoids, alkanes, fatty acids, sesquiterpenes, and pheromone-like substances. CuSO4 significantly induced the expected signals of inflammatory and oxidative stress, reducing both the antioxidant activity and increasing proinflammatory marker genes. However, CE, especially the low dose, showed significant capability to reduce proinflammatory markers and elevating the total antioxidant activity. Therefore, we concluded that S. convolutum can be a promising source for future efforts of drug discovery and a wide spectrum of pharmaceutical products.

Molecular performance of Prl and Gh/Igf1 axis in the Mediterranean meager, Argyrosomus regius, acclimated to different rearing salinities.

Aquaculture industry in the Mediterranean region exhibits a growing interest for the Mediterranean meager Argyrosomus regius. Some preliminary works showed a good growth performance of the species in nearly isosmotic salinities. However, the patterns of alteration of prolactin (Prl) as well as growth hormone (Gh)/insulin growth factor-1 (Igf1) axis at the molecular level are not yet described in this species. Therefore, we cloned and sequenced partial cDNAs for pituitary prolactin (prl) and growth hormone (gh), hepatic insulin-like growth factor (igf1), and ß-actin (actb). Expression patterns of these transcripts were tested in juveniles of A. regius acclimated to four different environmental salinities: (1) 5 ‰ (hyposmotic); (2) 12 ‰ (isosmotic); (3) 38 ‰ (hyperosmotic; seawater control); and (4) 55 ‰ (extremely hyperosmotic). All investigated transcripts shared high sequence identities with their counterparts in other perciformes. prl mRNA levels showed inverse pattern with increasing salinities. gh mRNA enhanced significantly in both 12 and 55 ‰ salinity groups in comparison with the control group, while igf1 showed its maximum expression levels under the nearly isosmotic environment. The results indicated clear sensitivity of prl, gh and igf1 to changes in environmental salinity, which can possibly control the euryhalinity capacity of this species.