Autophagy is related to apoptosis in sea urchin embryos exposed to cadmium

The sea urchin embryo is a suitable model system that offers an excellent opportunity to investigate different defense strategies activated in stress conditions. We previously showed that cadmium treatment provokes the accumulation of metal in dose-time dependent manner in embryonic cells and the activation of defense systems, such as the synthesis of HSPs and/or the initiation of apoptosis. Analyzing autophagy, by neutral red, acridine orange and LC3-detection, we demonstrated that Cd-exposed embryos adopt this process as an additional stratagem to safeguard the developmental program. We observed that embryos treated with subletal Cd concentration activate massive autophagic response after…