Basic approach of inflammation, injury and regeneration in Anemonia viridis

Abstract

The potential for tissue regeneration is a powerful adaptive strategy essential to the survival of individuals. It allows to face wounds or loss of body parts induced by predation, anthropic actions or environmental factors. In light of the high probability of increasing levels of disturbances caused by injuries and the increasing possibility of invasion of microbes and foreign agents in the tissues of anthozoans, it is crucial to determine how the species respond to wounds and physical damage and understand the capacity of recovering and tissues regeneration. From this point of view, the regeneration capacity of Anthozoa it could be considered an additional arm of innate immune defence and viceversa. Therefore, from our work team, the inflammatory response in Mediterranean anthozoan Anemonia viridis (Forsskal, 1775) has been studied following the injection of substances of various type and size. We observed strong and specific reaction, especially after the bacterial injection of Escherichia coli and Vibrio alginolyticus. Then, we focused on the regenerative aspects of this species of anthozoan carrying out an experimental plan based on different numbers of tentacle cuts and the evaluation of the regenerative potential after 7, 14 and 21 days. Morphological observations and histological analysis on the tentacle regrowth, as well as measures of expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) were carried out. Protease, phosphatase and esterase activities were measured as survival markers. In perspective, we want to study at histological and molecular level how homeostatic tissues start the regeneration program while triggering immune response and their mediators of inflammation. In this context, we will focus on those bioactive molecules that, with their vast abundance, can be potentially used for biotechnological applications