Post-prandial alkaline tide in freshwater rainbow trout: effects of meal anticipation on recovery from acid–base and ion regulatory disturbances

Abstract

The post-feeding alkaline tide (elevated blood pH and HCO3-) has been well characterised in air-breathing animals, but to date this phenomenon has only been demonstrated in one piscine species, a marine elasmobranch. We have investigated the acid-base and ion regulatory responses of a freshwater teleost to voluntary feeding as well as to involuntary filling of the stomach via an indwelling gastric intubation tube. One group of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were fed a 1% body mass ration of homogenised food via the gastric intubation tube. Another group fed voluntarily on a 1% body mass ration. Blood samples were taken via dorsal aortic catheters from fish in both groups before feeding and over the subsequent 72 h. Trout fed via the gastric intubation tube exhibited post-prandial metabolic alkalosis of the blood (pH and plasma HCO3- increases of up to approximately 0.2 pH units and 3 mmol l(-1), respectively), that was more than twofold greater than the voluntary feeding fish, and took three times as long to recover (72 versus 24 h). Arterial PCO2 was unchanged in both groups indicating that freshwater trout do not retain CO2 to compensate for a post-prandial alkaline tide. Although excretion of HCO3- to the water increased post-prandially, NH4+ excretion followed a similar pattern, such that net acid equivalent fluxes were unaffected. Thus, sites other than the gills or kidney must be responsible for recovery of blood acid-base status, with intestinal HCO3- secretion being a likely candidate. In addition, fish fed via the gastric intubation tube experienced a large (17 mmol l(-1)) but acute (6 h) drop in plasma chloride and a very large (53%) and long lasting decline in plasma magnesium concentration, that were absent in voluntarily feeding fish. These results further indicate a potentially important role for neuro-endocrine mediated mechanisms when fish feed voluntarily, in promoting the earlier initiation of compensatory responses that regulate blood ion levels and acid-base status. This aspect should also be considered when interpreting studies on other aspects of post-prandial physiology, where force feeding by gavage is commonly used in preference to voluntary feeding.