The energetic costs of being in stressful conditions require the involvement of hormones associated with metabolic support, which may also influence immune function. The present work aimed to explore the links between tryptophan nutrition and metabolic responses in European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) held under space-confined conditions, and subsequently submitted to an immune challenge. To study that, two dietary treatments were evaluated, i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProbiotics Antimicrob Proteins
September 2024
This study investigates the postbiotic potential of extracellular products (ECPs) from Bacillus pumilus strains cultivated on microalgae-supplemented media. We assessed enzymatic and antimicrobial activities to select ECPs that enhance the digestive processes in gilthead seabream. Additionally, we explored the in vitro enzymatic capacity of the chosen postbiotics to hydrolyze macromolecules in microalgae.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Genomics
September 2024
Fishmeal and fish oil have been the main sources of protein and fatty acid for aquaculture fish. However, their increasing price and low sustainability have led the aquafeed industry to seek sustainable alternative feedstuffs to meet the nutritional requirements of fish and improve their health and performance. Plant proteins have been successfully used to replace fishery derivatives in aquafeeds, but the presence of anti-nutritional substances is a potential drawback of this approach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFish Physiol Biochem
December 2024
This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Protium heptaphyllum fruit essential oil (PHEO) on the physiology of silver catfish (Rhamdia quelen) during anesthesia and recovery, through studying echocardiograms, oxidative status, and metabolic parameters. Three experiments were performed: (1) 50 silver catfish juveniles were submitted to anesthesia and recovery tests with 300, 400, 500, 600, and 700 mg L of PHEO. (2) Echocardiogram analysis was performed in anesthetized and non-anesthetized fish.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSomatic growth in vertebrates is mainly controlled by the growth hormone (GH)/insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) axis. The role of epigenetic mechanisms in regulating this axis in fish is far from being understood. This work aimed to optimize and evaluate the use of short-term culture of pituitary and liver explants from a farmed fish, the gilthead seabream , for studying epigenetic mechanisms involved in GH/IGF-I axis regulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIncreasing attention is currently being paid to the protective role of polyphenols in health and oxidative status in fish. For this reason, the potential use of different natural sources of such compounds, like wine by products, is under study. One key step required to gain a better understanding on the biological roles of polyphenols for a given species is to assess the different factors affecting their digestive bioaccessibility, and a great number of such studies is based in the use of digestion models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aimed to evaluate the combined effect of dietary and ethanol-inactivated DCF12.2 (C + V diet) in juveniles, highlighting their nutritional, physiological, and morphological effects. The results showed that the combined dietary inclusion of and significantly enhanced growth performance and feed utilization compared to the control group.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aimed to verify the effect of different feeding and stocking conditions during 14 days on the gene expression of several hormones and enzymes related to the stress cascade and metabolic parameters in silver catfish Rhamdia quelen under the following experimental conditions: 1) fed at low stocking density (2.5 kg m, LSD-F); 2) fed at high stocking density (32 kg m, HSD-F); 3) food-deprived at LSD (LSD-FD); and 4) food-deprived at HSD (HSD-FD). Fish from LSD-F and HSD-F groups were fed daily (1 % of their body mass), while fish from food-deprived groups (LSD-FD and HSD-FD) were not fed during the experimental time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn teleosts, brain monoamines (dopamine and serotonin) participate in the early response to different acute stressors. However, little is known regarding their role during chronic stress. In a 2 × 2 factorial design, the influence of a high stocking density (HSD) and/or food deprivation (FD) on the brain monoaminergic activity in gilthead sea bream () was evaluated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this work was to evaluate two functional feeds for the gilthead seabream, Sparus aurata, containing low inclusion of two microalgae-based products (LB-GREENboost, LB; and LB-GUThealth, LB). Fish (12-13 g) were fed for 13 weeks a control diet or one of the four diets supplemented with both products at 0.5% or 1%.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThick-lipped grey mullet () is a candidate for sustainable aquaculture due to its omnivorous/detritivorous feeding habit. This work aimed to evaluate its digestive and growth potentials from larval to early juvenile stages. To attain these objectives the activity of key digestive enzymes was measured from three until 90 days post hatch (dph).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In the animal production sector, enteritis is responsible for serious economic losses, and intestinal parasitism is a major stress factor leading to malnutrition and lowered performance and animal production efficiency. The effect of enteric parasites on the gut function of teleost fish, which represent the most ancient bony vertebrates, is far from being understood. The intestinal myxozoan parasite Enteromyxum leei dwells between gut epithelial cells and causes severe enteritis in gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata), anorexia, cachexia, growth impairment, reduced marketability and increased mortality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTwo different O levels (normoxia: 75-85% O saturation; moderate hypoxia: 42-43% O saturation) and stocking densities (LD: 9.5, and HD: 19 kg/m) were assessed on gilthead sea bream () in a 3-week feeding trial. Reduced O availability had a negative impact on feed intake and growth rates, which was exacerbated by HD despite of the improvement in feed efficiency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn fish, stressful events initiate a hormone cascade along the hypothalamus-pituitary-interrenal and hypothalamus-sympathetic-chromaffin (HSC) axis to evoke several physiological reactions in order to orchestrate and maintain homeostasis. Several biotic and abiotic factors, as well as aquaculture procedures (handling, transport, or stocking density), activated stress system inducing negative effects on different physiological processes in fish (growth, reproduction, and immunity). In order to reduce these consequences, the use of essential oils (EOs) derived from plants has been the focus of aquaculture studies due to their diverse properties (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTransport processes between aquaculture facilities activate the stress response in fish. To deal with these situations, the hypothalamic-pituitary-interrenal (HPI) axis releases cortisol, leading to an increase in circulating energy resources to restore homeostasis. However, if the allostatic load generated exceeds fish tolerance limits, stress-related responses will compromise health and welfare of the animals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntegration of technological solutions aims to improve accuracy, precision and repeatability in farming operations, and biosensor devices are increasingly used for understanding basic biology during livestock production. The aim of this study was to design and validate a miniaturized tri-axial accelerometer for non-invasive monitoring of farmed fish with re-programmable schedule protocols. The current device (AE-FishBIT v.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAquat Toxicol
July 2019
The present study assesses the response of vasotocinergic system in the gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) after administering two doses of the polychlorinated biphenyl Aroclor 1254 (15 or 50 μg g fresh body mass). Seven days post-administration, eight fish of each experimental group were sampled, and the remaining animals were challenged with a hyperosmotic stress by being transferred from seawater (36 ppt) to high salinity water (55 ppt) and being sampled 3 days post-transfer. Aroclor 1254 affected gene expression of avt, together with Avt concentrations in pituitary and plasma, inhibiting the stimulation observed in vasotocinergic system after hyperosmotic challenge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPersian sturgeon (Acipenser persicus) is a critically endangered species, mainly due to overexploitation for its caviar. The permanence of populations of this species in the Caspian Sea is fully dependent on restocking programs. Accordingly, it is considered as an interesting target for aquaculture for both restocking and commercial purposes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn teleosts, a complex interaction between several endocrine axes modulates physiological functions related to metabolism, stress, and osmoregulation. Although many studies in fish underline the interconnection between the hypothalamic-pituitary-interrenal (HPI) and hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) endocrine axes, their relationship with the vasotocinergic and isotocinergic systems remains unknown. The aim of the present study is therefore to shed light on the potential cross-regulations between HPT, HPI, and the vasotocinergic and isotocinergic axes in gilthead sea bream () at hypothalamic, hypophyseal, and plasma levels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Gh/Prl/Sl family has evolved differentially through evolution, resulting in varying relationships between the somatotropic axis and growth rates within and across fish species. This is due to a wide range of endogenous and exogenous factors that make this association variable throughout season and life cycle, and the present minireview aims to better define the nutritional and environmental regulation of the endocrine growth cascade over precisely defined groups of fishes, focusing on Mediterranean farmed fishes. As a result, circulating Gh and Igf-i are revitalized as reliable growth markers, with a close association with growth rates of gilthead sea bream juveniles with deficiency signs in both macro- or micro-nutrients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol
January 2018
The influence of chronic stress, induced by food deprivation (FD) and/or high stocking density (HSD), was assessed on stress, vasotocinergic and isotocinergic pathways of the gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata). Fish were randomly assigned to one of the following treatments: (1) fed at low stocking density (LSD-F; 5kg·m); (2) fed at high stocking density (HSD-F, 40kg·m); (3) food-deprived at LSD (LSD-FD); and (4) food-deprived at HSD (HSD-FD). After 21days, samples from plasma, liver, hypothalamus, pituitary and head-kidney were collected.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Acclimation to abiotic challenges, including decreases in O availability, requires physiological and anatomical phenotyping to accommodate the organism to the environmental conditions. The retention of a nucleus and functional mitochondria in mature fish red blood cells makes blood a promising tissue to analyse the transcriptome and metabolic responses of hypoxia-challenged fish in an integrative and non-invasive manner.
Methods: Juvenile gilthead sea bream () were reared at 20-21 °C under normoxic conditions (> 85% O saturation) followed by exposure to a gradual decrease in water O concentration to 3.
Intensive aquaculture practices involve rearing fish at high densities. In these conditions, fish may be exposed to suboptimal dissolved O levels with an increased formation of reactive O species (ROS) in tissues. Seaweeds (SW) contain biologically active substances with efficient antioxidant capacities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study describes the responses of the vasotocinergic and isotocinergic systems to food deprivation and re-feeding processes in immature gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata). The animals were subjected to the following experimental treatments: (1) normal feeding (control), (2) food deprivation for 21 days; and (3) re-feeding for 7 days, beginning 14 days after starvation. The animals were sampled at 0, 7, 14 and 21 days from the beginning of the trial.
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