The effects of repeated physical stress or fasting on catccholamine storage and release in the rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss

Abstract

Rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, were subjected to either physical stress (twice daily chasing to exhaustion for 5 days) or a period of 2 months of fasting. Following these treatments, the levels of catecholamines, adrenaline and noradrenaline, stored within the kidney and posterior cardinal vein (PCV) were determined. The ability of the catecholamine‐storing chromaffin cells to release catecholamines in response to cholinergic stimulation was measured using an in situ saline‐perfused PCV preparation.In the physically stressed fish, the concentration (μg catecholamine g−1 tissue) of noradrenaline within the anterior and middle thirds of the kidney increased; the concentration of adrenaline was unchanged in all tissues. The content (μg) of noradrenaline or adrenaline, within the various tissues, was similar in both groups of fish with the exception of a higher noradrenaline content in the middle third of the kidney in the physically stressed fish. The total catecholamine content (μg catecholamine) of these tissues (kidney+PCV) was unaffected by physical stress.With the exception of a lower concentration of adrenaline in the middle third of the kidney, the concentrations of catecholamines were unaffected by fasting. There was a trend towards a greater content (μg) of noradrenaline within all of the tissue regions of the fed fish, however, a significant difference was only observed in the anterior third of the kidney. The content of adrenaline in the fed fish was greater in all regions of the kidney as well as the middle third of the PCV. The total catecholamine content (kidney + PCV) was lower in the fasted fish owing to significantly lower PCV and kidney masses.Prolonged physical stress caused a decrease in the responsiveness of the chromaffin cells to the cholinoceptor agonist carbachol (10−8 to 10−4mol). The ED50 (the dose of carbachol required to elicit a half maximal response) for catecholamine release was 0·96 ± 10−6mol carbachol in the physically stressed fish and 0·84 ± 10−7 in the control fish. Fasting did not alter the pattern of catecholamine release. The ED50 values were 0·96 ± 10−7 and 1·24 ± 10−7 mol for fasted and fed fish, respectively. Thus, a physical stress affected both catecholamine storage and release whereas fasting affected only storage and not the release process.