Effect of amino acid supplementation and stress on expression of molecular markers in meagre (Argyrosomus regius)

Abstract

The objectives of this work were: 1) develop of molecular stress biomarkers obtaining sequence data of different transcripts, 2) study the molecular stress response through the expression quantification of key gene involved in it, and 3) assess the effects of dietary amino acid additives on stress response in meagre meagres (Argyrososmus regius). Fish batches were fed two experimental diets with tryptophan (Trp) or aspartate (Asp) added for seven days. Before sampling fish were submitted to confinement/netting stress during 1 h, except control fish. Therefore fish were sampled before and after stress (1 h and 6 h post-stress). The sampling consisted of blood and tissues (brain, hypophysis and liver). Several gene expressions related to the stress response were measured in those tissues, and the cloning of corticotropin-releasing hormone (crh), corticotropin-releasing hormone binding protein (crh-bp), and thyrotropin-releasing hormone (trh) has been reported in meagre for the first time. In fact, fish fed an additional Asp diet did not present any sl, prl and gh expression changes, as for the control group. Contrarily, the Trp diet altered the prl and gh expressions after stress. For crh and crh-bp expressions, no significant differences were detected within the Asp diet hence that amino acid improved the stress response. However, Asp feeding, but not Trp, enhanced pomc-a expression after stress. Hsp70 expression varied for every treatment, including the control feeding, indicating a late response at 6 h post-stress sampling, where both Asp and Trp treatments increased these expressions significantly. Concluding, the response of molecular stress markers to amino acid enriched diets was diverse. The stressor did not change significantly the relative expression of most analyzed genes for control feeding groups, though the Asp supplemented diet was more effective for attenuating molecular markers than the Trp one.