Meeting Abstract
Aminoglycoside antibiotics, such as streptomycin, cause ototoxic effects in vertebrate animals, but damage to hair cells caused by long-term exposure to aminoglycosides has not been studied in invertebrate animals. This study investigated the effects of streptomycin on the tentacle epithelium of the sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis. The number of hair bundles located at the bases of tentacles of sea anemones significantly decreased in response to streptomycin exposure. There was also a significant reduction in the number of mitochondria (labeled with MitoTracker) in response to streptomycin exposure, at both the tips and bases of tentacles. Within 1 hour of streptomycin exposure, there was a significant increase in the number of nuclei that had been labeled with EdU, a thymidine analog. Within 4 hours of streptomycin exposure, there was a significant increase in the number of nuclei that had been labeled with Hoechst, a DNA stain. Together, the EdU and Hoechst labeling results indicate an increase in cell proliferation, possibly intended to replace hair cells killed by streptomycin. These findings indicate that long-term exposure to streptomycin is destructive to the tentacle epithelium of sea anemones.
