Comparative animal study reveals distinct immune and apoptotic pathways in Gymnocypris eckloni exposed to acute versus prolonged hypoxia, highlighting mechanisms of high-altitude adaptation.
Key Points
To investigate the dynamic immune and transcriptional responses of Gymnocypris eckloni under severe short-term hypoxia compared to moderate prolonged hypoxia.
Exposed Gymnocypris eckloni to severe hypoxia for 12 hours and moderate hypoxia for 24, 96, and 168 hours.
Evaluated liver and blood biochemical parameters alongside liver transcriptomic profiling.
Quantified expression patterns of key immune, apoptotic, and autophagic genes across gill, spleen, and liver tissues using STEM and WGCNA analyses.
Severe short-term hypoxia intensified oxidative stress and altered the expression of critical apoptosis and autophagy genes compared to moderate prolonged exposure.
Transcriptomic analysis showed significant pathway enrichment for phagosome, lysosome, TLR, and NLR signaling exclusively under severe short-term hypoxia.
Targeted gene expression profiling identified marked induction of immune and stress-response genes, including nod1, irf3, akt, pi3k, jnk, and cyld, in both gill and spleen tissues under acute severe hypoxia.