Abstract:
The near colourless anatomy and clear blood of the common glass or grass shrimps makes them an ideal group of organisms to study physiological and molecular functions in vivo. Their transparency permits physiological analysis of general environmental perturbations such as increasing water temperature, acidification, and hypoxia, all of which are topical aspects impacting aquatic environments. Mitochondrial function and integrity should therefore be more easily accessible for in vivo studies, where these membrane-bound organelles change optical characteristics under different redox states. During hypoxia fluorescence of NAD(P)H changes over time, where different temperature may also alter the general flux rates at these different oxygen concentrations. Cytochromal activity and oxygenbinding proteins are also likely to change under different redox states and with temperature. This study aims to establish shrimps as a useful research model to explore mitochondrial function in vivo by determining the effects of hypoxia on mitochondrial function. By utilizing fluorescent spectroscopy, relative amounts of NAD(P)H were followed to test the affects of changing oxygen and temperature on mitochondrial function. This study then further explored the effects of temperature and hypoxia in vivo on respiratory flux rates, followed by the measuring of lactate levels after exposure to set temperatures and changing oxygen concentrations. Overall this project aims to provide a robust, inexpensive reproducible research model where these common and abundant organisms may be used as bio-indicators. It is also hoped that this study will aid our understanding of mitochondrial physiology, in relation to hypoxic-anoxic transitions and temperature in aquatic animals.
