Physiological and Histological Changes in Crayfish Procambarus clarkii after Acute Temperature Stress

ABSTRACT Temperature stress affect a stress response of aquatic animals including physiological metabolism, immune defense and other metabolic processes, damaged their immune response even cause dead. In this study, the physiological and histological changes of Procambarus clarkii under the high temperature (30°C) and the low temperature (10°C) stress were investigated. With the increase of temperature, the pyruvate kinase activity in the hepatopancreas and gill tissues of crayfish was gradually increased, and the fatty acid synthase activity at 10°C and 30°C were significantly lower than the control group of 25°C. Furthermore, lysozyme, catalase and superoxide dismutase in 10 °C and 30 °C were significantly lower than that of 25 °C. ELISA revealed that HSP90 activities was enhanced with the increasing temperature in hepatopancreas after 36h of treatment. HE sections showed that high temperature stress or hypothermia caused deformation of R cells (storage cells), rupture of B cells (secretory cells), and partial rupture of the basement membrane (BM) in hepatopancreas, as well as the deformation of epithelial cells and respiratory epithelial cells of BM in gill tissues. While the temperature stress (30°C and 10°C treatment) caused the deformation of epithelial cells and respiratory epithelial cells, making rupture of the BM, comparing with the group at 25°C. The study provides the data about the response of crayfish to temperature stress at the molecular level, and benefit to develop the strategy to defend the damage in the crayfish aquaculture caused by the temperature neither in the different regions nor in the different season.