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Intermittent hypoxia (IH) is commonly associated with pathological conditions, particularly obstructive sleep apnoea. However, IH is also increasingly used to enhance health and performance and is emerging as a potent non‐pharmacological intervention against numerous diseases. Whether IH is detrimental or beneficial for health is largely determined by the intensity, duration, number and frequency of the hypoxic exposures and by the specific responses they engender. Adaptive responses to hypoxia protect from future hypoxic or ischaemic insults, improve cellular resilience and functions, and boost mental and physical performance. The cellular and systemic mechanisms producing these benefits are highly complex, and the failure of different components can shift long‐term adaptation to maladaptation and the development of pathologies. Rather than discussing in detail the well‐characterized individual responses and adaptations to IH, we here aim to summarize and integrate hypoxia‐activated mechanisms into a holistic picture of the body's adaptive responses to hypoxia and specifically IH, and demonstrate how these mechanisms might be mobilized for their health benefits while minimizing the risks of hypoxia exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: Since cell lines are cultured and extensively used in a variety of different research disciplines, we determined the effects of passage numbers on a commonly used embryonic zebrafish cell line (Z3). Methods: Senescence markers, DNA damage, the redox state, gene expression, and metabolic parameters have been investigated in young (passage 5) up to very old (passage 40 and higher) cells. Results: Besides increasing DNA damage, we also found elevated metabolic capacity and a shift to a more reduced cellular redox state in the cells. Interestingly, several parameters showed a non-linear course regarding the passage number or cell age, so that for example young and mid-aged cells appeared to cluster with very old rather than with old cells. Conclusion: This study illustrates the importance of passage number and suggests pre-testing specific parameters to assure the generation of accurate and reproducible data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background The degree of metal binding specificity in metalloproteins such as metallothioneins (MTs) can be crucial for their functional accuracy. Unlike most other animal species, pulmonate molluscs possess homometallic MT isoforms loaded with Cu+ or Cd2+. They have, so far, been obtained as native metal-MT complexes from snail tissues, where they are involved in the metabolism of the metal ion species bound to the respective isoform. However, it has not as yet been discerned if their specific metal occupation is the result of a rigid control of metal availability, or isoform expression programming in the hosting tissues or of structural differences of the respective peptides determining the coordinative options for the different metal ions. In this study, the Roman snail (Helix pomatia) Cu-loaded and Cd-loaded isoforms (HpCuMT and HpCdMT) were used as model molecules in order to elucidate the biochemical and evolutionary mechanisms permitting pulmonate MTs to achieve specificity for their cognate metal ion. Results HpCuMT and HpCdMT were recombinantly synthesized in the presence of Cd2+, Zn2+ or Cu2+ and corresponding metal complexes analysed by electrospray mass spectrometry and circular dichroism (CD) and ultra violet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometry. Both MT isoforms were only able to form unique, homometallic and stable complexes (Cd6-HpCdMT and Cu12-HpCuMT) with their cognate metal ions. Yeast complementation assays demonstrated that the two isoforms assumed metal-specific functions, in agreement with their binding preferences, in heterologous eukaryotic environments. In the snail organism, the functional metal specificity of HpCdMT and HpCuMT was contributed by metal-specific transcription programming and cell-specific expression. Sequence elucidation and phylogenetic analysis of MT isoforms from a number of snail species revealed that they possess an unspecific and two metal-specific MT isoforms, whose metal specificity was achieved exclusively by evolutionary modulation of non-cysteine amino acid positions. Conclusion The Roman snail HpCdMT and HpCuMT isoforms can thus be regarded as prototypes of isoform families that evolved genuine metal-specificity within pulmonate molluscs. Diversification into these isoforms may have been initiated by gene duplication, followed by speciation and selection towards opposite needs for protecting copper-dominated metabolic pathways from nonessential cadmium. The mechanisms enabling these proteins to be metal-specific could also be relevant for other metalloproteins.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is used for magnetic resonance imaging and, at a lower intensity, as therapy for the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. Due to the involvement of the circadian clock protein CRYPTOCHROME in the magnetic orientation of animals, it was repeatedly assumed that magnetic fields might affect the circadian rhythm of cells and organisms. Since circadian time keeping and hypoxic signaling are mutually intertwined, we investigated the effects of NMR on both cellular pathways in zebrafish fibroblast cells and larvae. In cells, basal mRNA expression of cryptochrome1aa was increased and oscillations of cryptochrome1aa and period1b were shifted in phase, while those of clock1a and period2 remained unaffected. Similarly, circadian oscillations of cryptochrome1aa and period1b were restored in zebrafish larvae, while those of clock1a and period2 remained unaltered. NMR also restored the circadian expression of the hypoxia-inducible factor (Hif) isoforms Hif-1α and Hif-3α at the mRNA and protein level, but had no effect on the expression of Hif-2α. Thus, NMR-mediated effects might differ substantially from the light-induced reset of the circadian clock in the same species and therefore represent an additional operation mode of the cellular clock, enabling distinct processing of photic and magnetic information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tolerance towards hypoxia is highly pronounced in zebrafish. In this study even beneficial effects of hypoxia, specifically enhanced survival of zebrafish larvae, could be demonstrated. This effect was actually more pronounced in breakdance mutants, which phenotypically show cardiac arrhythmia. Breakdance mutants (bre) are characterized by chronically reduced cardiac output. Despite an about 50% heart rate reduction, they become adults, but survival rate significantly drops to 40%. Normoxic bre animals demonstrate increased hypoxia inducible factor 1 a (Hif-1α) expression, which indicates an activated hypoxic signaling pathway. Consequently, cardiovascular acclimation, like cardiac hypertrophy and increased erythrocyte concentration, occurs. Thus, it was hypothesized, that under hypoxic conditions survival might be even more reduced. When bre mutants were exposed to hypoxic conditions, they surprisingly showed higher survival rates than under normoxic conditions and even reached wildtype values. In hypoxic wildtype zebrafish, survival yet exceeded normoxic control values. To specify physiological acclimation, cardiovascular and metabolic parameters were measured before hypoxia started (3 dpf), when the first differences in survival rate occurred (7 dpf) and when survival rate plateaued (15 dpf). Hypoxic animals expectedly demonstrated Hif-1α accumulation and consequently enhanced convective oxygen carrying capacity. Moreover, bre animals showed a significantly enhanced heart rate under hypoxic conditions, which reached normoxic wildtype values. This improvement in convective oxygen transport ensured a sufficient oxygen and nutrient supply and was also reflected in the significantly higher mitochondrial activity. The highly optimized energy metabolism observed in hypoxic zebrafish larvae might be decisive for periods of higher energy demand due to organ development, growth and increased activity. However, hypoxia increased survival only during a short period of development and starting hypoxia before or after this phase reduced survival, particularly in bre animals. Thus, the physiological plasticity, which enables zebrafish larvae to benefit from a hypoxia, occurs only within a narrow developmental window. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]