Nicotine Induces Polyspermy in Sea Urchin Eggs through a Non-Cholinergic Pathway Modulating Actin Dynamics
1
Department of Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, I-80121 Napoli, Italy
2
Department of Research Infrastructures for Marine Biological Resources, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, I-80121, Napoli, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Current address: Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montreal (CRCHUM) Montreal, QC H2X 0A9, Canada
Cells 2020, 9(1), 63; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9010063
Received: 8 November 2019
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Revised: 2 December 2019
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Accepted: 21 December 2019
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Published: 25 December 2019
While alkaloids often exert unique pharmacological effects on animal cells, exposure of sea urchin eggs to nicotine causes polyspermy at fertilization in a dose-dependent manner. Here, we studied molecular mechanisms underlying the phenomenon. Although nicotine is an agonist of ionotropic acetylcholine receptors, we found that nicotine-induced polyspermy was neither mimicked by acetylcholine and carbachol nor inhibited by specific antagonists of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Unlike acetylcholine and carbachol, nicotine uniquely induced drastic rearrangement of egg cortical microfilaments in a dose-dependent way. Such cytoskeletal changes appeared to render the eggs more receptive to sperm, as judged by the significant alleviation of polyspermy by latrunculin-A and mycalolide-B. In addition, our fluorimetric assay provided the first evidence that nicotine directly accelerates polymerization kinetics of G-actin and attenuates depolymerization of preassembled F-actin. Furthermore, nicotine inhibited cofilin-induced disassembly of F-actin. Unexpectedly, our results suggest that effects of nicotine can also be mediated in some non-cholinergic pathways.
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Keywords:
sea urchin; nicotine; non-cholinergic; polyspermy; fertilization; actin; calcium; cofilin
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MDPI and ACS Style
Limatola, N.; Vasilev, F.; Santella, L.; Chun, J.T. Nicotine Induces Polyspermy in Sea Urchin Eggs through a Non-Cholinergic Pathway Modulating Actin Dynamics. Cells 2020, 9, 63. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9010063
AMA Style
Limatola N, Vasilev F, Santella L, Chun JT. Nicotine Induces Polyspermy in Sea Urchin Eggs through a Non-Cholinergic Pathway Modulating Actin Dynamics. Cells. 2020; 9(1):63. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9010063
Chicago/Turabian StyleLimatola, Nunzia, Filip Vasilev, Luigia Santella, and Jong Tai Chun. 2020. "Nicotine Induces Polyspermy in Sea Urchin Eggs through a Non-Cholinergic Pathway Modulating Actin Dynamics" Cells 9, no. 1: 63. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9010063
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