Genetic variability of environmental sensitivity revealed by phenotypic variation in body weight and (its) correlations to physiological and behavioral traits.

Adaptive phenotypic plasticity is a key component of the ability of organisms to cope with changing environmental conditions. Fish have been shown to exhibit a substantial level of phenotypic plasticity in response to abiotic and biotic factors. In the present study, we investigate the link between environmental sensitivity assessed globally (revealed by phenotypic variation in body weight) and more targeted physiological and behavioral indicators that are generally used to assess the sensitivity of a fish to environmental stressors.

Pre-slaughter conditions, animal stress and welfare: current status and possible future research.

The present paper describes the main procedures used to slaughter fowl, pigs, calves and adult cattle, sheep, and farmed fish, starting on the farm and ending with the death of the animal at the abattoir. It reviews the currently known causes of stress, indicated by behavioural and physiological measurements on the animal level, and by post-mortem muscle metabolism. During the pre-slaughter period, psychological stress is due to changes of environment, social disturbances and handling, and physical stress is due to food deprivation, climatic conditions, fatigue, and sometimes pain.

Plasma cortisol response to stress in juvenile rainbow trout is influenced by their life history during early development and by egg cortisol content.

In this study, the consequences of the exposure of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to a brief stress during early development were explored on the later response of fingerlings to stress. Firstly, we analyzed the ontogeny of cortisol production and that of the initial cortisol response to stress in developing fish. It is only at the eyed stage that the embryos started to produce some basal cortisol.

Exploration of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function as a tool to evaluate animal welfare.

Measuring HPA axis activity is the standard approach to the study of stress and welfare in farm animals. Although the reference technique is the use of blood plasma to measure glucocorticoid hormones (cortisol or corticosterone), several alternative methods such as the measurement of corticosteroids in saliva, urine or faeces have been developed to overcome the stress induced by blood sampling itself. In chronic stress situations, as is frequently the case in studies about farm animal welfare, hormonal secretions are usually unchanged but dynamic testing allows the demonstration of functional changes at several levels of the system, including the sensitization of the adrenal cortex to ACTH and the resistance of the axis to feedback inhibition by corticosteroids (dexamethasone suppression test).

Relationship between changes in mRNAs of the genes encoding steroidogenic acute regulatory protein and P450 cholesterol side chain cleavage in head kidney and plasma levels of cortisol in response to different kinds of acute stress in the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

In this study, the expression of several genes involved in cortisol synthesis in head kidneys, the site of cortisol production, and in the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) was examined in response to two different acute stressors and an acute ACTH treatment. mRNAs levels of the "steroidogenic acute regulatory" (StAR) sterol transport protein, which transports cholesterol to the inner mitochondrial membrane as well as cytochrome P450 cholesterol side chain cleavage (P450(SCC)) were determined in head kidney (containing the interrenal tissue). In one experiment, we also quantified 3-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3B-HSD) and cytochrome P450(11beta) (11B-H) mRNAs.