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Environmental Pollutant Effects on the Physiological and Immune Functions of...
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Environmental Pollutant Effects on the Physiological and Immune Functions of Aquatic Animals: Second Edition

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Aquatic Animals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 October 2026 | Viewed by 1773

Editors

Dr. Hui Guo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Fisheries, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, China
Interests: healthy aquaculture; eco-physiology; environmental stress; adaptive mechanism
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Liqiang Zhao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Fisheries, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang 524025, China
Interests: environmental pollution; climate change; acclimation and adaption; molluscan biology and ecology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Water covers around 71% of the total surface of our planet and harbors millions of species, ranging from microbes to mammals. However, environmental pollution in aquatic systems is becoming an increasingly severe problem due to the increasing human population, rapid industrialization, and technological advancement. Environmental pollution can affect aquatic organisms at all levels of biological organization. Exposure to different environmental pollutants can elicit varied stress responses far beyond the normal organismal range. An integrated homeostatic response that fails partly or entirely may weaken the immune system, affect physiological wellness, and make organisms prone to diverse diseases. This Special Issue will focus on the physiological and immune functions of aquatic animals exposed to environmental pollutants using newly developed technologies and methods.

Dr. Hui Guo
Dr. Liqiang Zhao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • aquatic animals
  • environmental pollutants
  • stress response
  • physiological functions
  • immune

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 7501 KB  
Article
Combined Effects of Heat and Cd2+ Stress on Growth, Physiology, and Transcriptomic Responses in Sipunculus nudus
by Jianqiang Huang, Ruzhou Zhong, Shaowen Yang, Chuangye Yang, Qingheng Wang and Yuewen Deng
Animals 2026, 16(13), 1991; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani16131991 - 27 Jun 2026
Viewed by 259
Abstract
Heat and Cd2+ stress are major environmental challenges for marine benthic invertebrates. This study examined their combined effects on growth, physiology, and transcriptomic responses in the peanut worm (Sipunculus nudus). After 30 days, Cd2+ reduced survival at 26 °C [...] Read more.
Heat and Cd2+ stress are major environmental challenges for marine benthic invertebrates. This study examined their combined effects on growth, physiology, and transcriptomic responses in the peanut worm (Sipunculus nudus). After 30 days, Cd2+ reduced survival at 26 °C without significantly affecting growth, whereas at 32 °C, both survival and growth declined with increasing Cd2+ concentration, indicating that heat stress exacerbates Cd2+ toxicity. Cd accumulation increased with exposure concentration but was not affected by temperature. Heat stress increased immune (AKP) and antioxidant (SOD, CAT) enzyme activities, although significant increases in SOD and CAT were observed only under Cd2+ exposure. AKP activity rose at low Cd2+ concentrations and fell at high Cd2+ concentrations at 26 °C, whereas no significant difference occurred at 32 °C between 0 and 0.25 mg/L Cd2+. At the same temperature, SOD and CAT activities were significantly higher under high Cd2+ exposure than under low Cd2+ exposure. Transcriptome analysis showed that Cd2+ exposure activated longevity-related pathways, protein processing, and translation initiation. Heat stress activated Jak-STAT signaling and endoplasmic reticulum protein processing while inhibiting the ribosome pathway. Under combined stress, pathways related to xenobiotic metabolism, nutrient digestion and absorption, and amino acid derivative metabolism were broadly suppressed. These results highlight that heat stress exacerbates Cd2+ toxicity, affecting growth, enzyme activity, and transcriptomic responses, and provide insights into the adaptive strategies of marine benthic organisms under the combined pressures of climate change and heavy metal pollution. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Pollutant Effects on the Physiological and Immune Functions of Aquatic Animals: Second Edition)
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17 pages, 3571 KB  
Article
The Role of Thioredoxin in Mitigating Ammonia-Induced Oxidative Stress in Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)
by Yu Yu, Yanghui Chen, Yingying Chang, Junliang Luo, Haoze Li, Jinyuan Feng, Minghui Zhu, Bei Wang, Yu Huang and Jichang Jian
Animals 2026, 16(11), 1580; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani16111580 - 22 May 2026
Viewed by 322
Abstract
Thioredoxin (TRX) is an important redox-related protein, which plays a key role in maintaining redox balance in cells. However, the role of TRX in ammonia exposure of Oreochromis niloticus is still unknown. In this study, we successfully cloned the TRX gene (OnTRX) of [...] Read more.
Thioredoxin (TRX) is an important redox-related protein, which plays a key role in maintaining redox balance in cells. However, the role of TRX in ammonia exposure of Oreochromis niloticus is still unknown. In this study, we successfully cloned the TRX gene (OnTRX) of O. niloticus and performed systematic bioinformatics analysis. The results of multi-sequence alignment and phylogenetic tree analysis showed that OnTRX is highly conserved in vertebrates, but exhibits low sequence similarity with TRX homologs from arthropods (crustaceans). The tissue distribution of OnTRX and its transcriptional response to ammonia challenge were determined by qRT-PCR, and we further investigated the relationship between OnTRX and the response of the Nile tilapia epithelial cell line (TSE-04) to NH4Cl treatment. The results showed that OnTRX exhibited tissue-specific expression, with a relatively high expression level in gill tissue. Ammonia exposure could significantly induce the expression of OnTRX in the gill, head kidney, intestine, skin, liver, and spleen of tilapia. In TSE-04 cells, OnTRX overexpression was associated with reduced NH4Cl-induced morphological damage, a lower proportion of apoptotic cells, and altered transcript levels of several stress-related genes. Collectively, these findings indicate that OnTRX is likely involved in the regulatory response of Nile tilapia to ammonia-induced stress, while the underlying molecular mechanisms thereof remain to be further elucidated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Pollutant Effects on the Physiological and Immune Functions of Aquatic Animals: Second Edition)
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14 pages, 4105 KB  
Article
Field Experiments, Behavioral Analyses, and Digestive Physiology Reveal the Selective Oyster-Feeding Strategy of Thais luteostoma
by Shijie Zhong, Wenxiu Liu, Jiawei Zhang, Yiwei Wang and Yongshan Liao
Animals 2026, 16(5), 814; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani16050814 - 5 Mar 2026
Viewed by 757
Abstract
Pearl oyster aquaculture is severely constrained by biofouling organisms, particularly fouling oysters, which substantially impair pearl oyster growth and farming efficiency. This study investigated the selective oyster-feeding behavior of the predatory gastropod Thais luteostoma and evaluated its potential as an ecological biofouling control [...] Read more.
Pearl oyster aquaculture is severely constrained by biofouling organisms, particularly fouling oysters, which substantially impair pearl oyster growth and farming efficiency. This study investigated the selective oyster-feeding behavior of the predatory gastropod Thais luteostoma and evaluated its potential as an ecological biofouling control agent in pearl oyster culture. Field co-culture experiments showed that T. luteostoma did not adversely affect the survival of Pinctada fucata martensii, while effectively reducing biofouling loads and significantly improving pearl oyster growth performance. Laboratory behavioral assays and quantitative analyses revealed a pronounced feeding preference for oysters in T. luteostoma, as evidenced by a higher number of feeding individuals, longer total feeding duration, and greater spatial overlap between feeding hotspots and oyster locations. In addition, digestive enzyme assays indicated marked post-feeding physiological responses in T. luteostoma, with a stronger induction of digestive activity in the digestive gland than in the stomach. Collectively, these findings suggest that T. luteostoma represents a promising and sustainable biological option for managing biofouling in pearl oyster aquaculture, with potential applicability to other high-value bivalve farming systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Pollutant Effects on the Physiological and Immune Functions of Aquatic Animals: Second Edition)
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