Effects of Environment and Physiological State of an Organism on the Activity and Content of Lysozyme in Fishes of the Family Cyprinidae: A Review

The effect of environmental factors such as water temperature, experimental conditions (fish in control), toxicants (heavy metals, herbicides, insecticides, etc.), and features of physiological state (starvation, early ontogenesis, reproduction, and relationship) on the activity and content of lysozyme in serum/plasma and some immune organs in fishes of the family Cyprinidae have been reviewed. Similar and multidirectional reactions of the enzyme under the influence of the same factors, as well as a wide range of variation, various units, and dimensions of the studied parameter of nonspecific resistance, have been shown. This review presents research materials that have been published in the past 15 years.     

Variability of some blood serum β-globulins in life cycle of sturgeons (Acipenseridae)

Blood proteins of sturgeons of two genera Acipenser and Pseudoscaphirhynchus preserving unidirectional variability in ontogenesis regardless of peculiarities of the fish ecology have heterochronic character. The slowest ontogenetic development lasting for 4–6 years is peculiar to one of antigens of β-globulins. Analysis of the variability of β-globulins in the age range beginning from the 4-month juveniles and including adult spawned individuals indicates different functional significance of their individual components. The βA-globulin absent at early postembryonic stages becomes the second, after albumin, quantitatively predominant antigen in the adult fish blood. The amount of βB-globulin, like antigens of α₁and α₂-globulins preserving relative ontogenetic stability, can decrease significantly in freshwater sturgeons due to their preparation for spawning.