Cadmium accumulation induces apoptosis in P-Lividus embryos

摘要

Cadmium is a heavy metal considered one of the most toxic pollutants both in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, which causes a series of toxic effects in differents organisms. We have previously studied the effects of a continuous exposure to subacute/sublethal cadmium concentration in Paracentrotus lividus embryos, a very suitable model system for testing how specific stresses can affect development and protein synthesis (ROCCHERI, 2004). In this paper we demonstrate by Atomic Absorption Spectometry that when sea urchin embryos were treated since fertilization with 100 mu M CdCl2, the metal is accumulated during time in the cells. We found by TUNEL assays on whole mount embryos that prolonged exposure to cadmium induces severe fragmentation of DNA. We demonstrate that cleaved caspase-3 is involved in apoptosis execution induced by cadmium.