A comparison of the chemiluminescent response of Crassostrea virginica and Morone saxatilis phagocytes to zymosan and viable Listonella anguillarum.

If reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by hemocytes of the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, impart bactericidal activity, exposure of hemocytes to bacteria should result in increased ROS generation. In an earlier study, this hypothesis was tested using luminol- and lucigenin-augmented chemiluminescence (CL) to measure ROS production. The bacterium Listonella anguillarum did not stimulate a net increase in hemocyte-derived CL, and it was suggested that bacterial antioxidants might suppress hemocyte CL. In the present study a comparison was made, under identical assay conditions, of the zymosan- and bacteria-enhanced luminol CL produced by eastern oyster hemocytes and by striped bass (Morone saxatilis) macrophages, for which L. anguillarum has been shown to be a stimulus in CL reactions. The response to zymosan produced by bass phagocytes was two orders of magnitude greater than that generated by eastern oyster hemocytes. Whereas an increase in net ROS production was not evident when oyster hemocytes were exposed to L. anguillarum, significant stimulation of striped bass macrophage-derived CL occurred. These data suggest that striped bass macrophages have a greater capacity to generate ROS than oyster hemocytes, enabling them to surpass the antioxidant capability of L. anguillarum and produce a luminol CL response.