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Cortisol and glucocorticoid receptor 2 regulate acid secretion in medaka (Oryzias latipes) larvae

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Abstract

Freshwater fish live in environments where pH levels fluctuate more than those in seawater. During acidic stress, the acid–base balance in these fish is regulated by ionocytes in the gills, which directly contact water and function as an external kidney. In ionocytes, apical acid secretion is largely mediated by H+-ATPase and the sodium/hydrogen exchanger (NHE). Control of this system was previously proposed to depend on the hormone, cortisol, mostly based on studies of zebrafish, a stenohaline fish, which utilize H+-ATPase as the main route for apical acid secretion. However, the role of cortisol is poorly understood in euryhaline fish species that preferentially use NHE as the main transporter. In the present study, we explored the role of cortisol in NHE-mediated acid secretion in medaka larvae. mRNA expression levels of transporters related to acid secretion and cortisol-synthesis enzyme were enhanced by acidic FW treatment (pH 4.5, 2 days) in medaka larvae. Moreover, exogenous cortisol treatment (25 mg/L, 2 days) resulted in upregulation of nhe3 and rhcg1 expression, as well as acid secretion in 7 dpf medaka larvae. In loss-of-function experiments, microinjection of glucocorticoid receptor (GR)2 morpholino (MO) caused reductions in nhe3 and rhcg1 expression and diminished acid secretion, but microinjection of mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) and GR1 MOs did not. Together, these results suggest a conserved action of cortisol and GR2 on fish body fluid acid–base regulation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Grants (to PPH and CHL) from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (MOST107-2326-B-001-007 and MOST109-2313-B-992- 003-MY3)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marine Biotechnology, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung, 81143, Taiwan

    Chia-Hao Lin

  2. The iEGG and Animal Biotechnology Center, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, 40227, Taiwan

    Chia-Hao Lin

  3. Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 11529, Taiwan

    Huei-Jyun Hu, Hsin-Ju Chuang, Yi-Ling Tsou & Pung-Pung Hwang

  4. Department of Life Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10607, Taiwan

    Hsin-Ju Chuang

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  1. Chia-Hao Lin
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  2. Huei-Jyun Hu
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  3. Hsin-Ju Chuang
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  4. Yi-Ling Tsou
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  5. Pung-Pung Hwang
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Contributions

CHL and PPH were involved in conception and study design; CHL, HJH, HJC, and YLT carried out the experiments and data collection; CHL, HJH, HJC, and PPH did the data analysis and interpretation; CHL and PPH wrote the manuscript; All the authors reviewed and revised the manuscript, and gave final approval for publication.

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Correspondence to Chia-Hao Lin or Pung-Pung Hwang.

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All applicable national and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

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Communicated by B. Pelster.

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Lin, CH., Hu, HJ., Chuang, HJ. et al. Cortisol and glucocorticoid receptor 2 regulate acid secretion in medaka (Oryzias latipes) larvae. J Comp Physiol B 191, 855–864 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-021-01390-w

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