ATLA::Alternatives to Laboratory Animals

Volume 26, Number 4

Responses of glutathione S-transferase and glutathione peroxidases to feeding rate of a wolf spider Pardosa prativaga.

ATLA 26, 399-403, July/August 1998

Søren Achim Nielsen¹ and Søren Toft²

Department of Life Sciences and Chemistry, Roskilde University, P. O. Box 260, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark; ²Department of Zoology, Building 135, University of Aarhus, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark

SUMMARY

Groups of large juvenile wolf spiders (Pardosa prativaga) were kept on constant Drosophila melanogaster rations of O (starvation), 1, 2, 3.5, 7, 14 or 28 flies per week, or ad libitum feeding. After 3-4 weeks, they were sacrificed and the activities of three biomarker enzyme systems Ñ glutathione S-transferase (GST) with chlorodinitrobenzene as substrate, glutathione peroxidase with H₂O₂ as substrate (GSH-Px[H₂O₂]), or glutathione peroxidase with tbutyl-hydroperoxide as substrate (GSH-Px[TBH]) -- were assayed. Two systems (GST and GSH-Px[H₂O₂]) showed decreasing enzyme activity with increasing feeding rate, whereas the variation in GSH-Px(TBH) was independent of feeding rate. Sex and body weight had no influence on enzyme activity.

Keywords: Pardosa prativaga, glutathione S-transferase, glutathione peroxidase, feeding rate