Abstract
Understanding how freshwater species respond to changes in salinity is essential for comprehending their distribution and ecological niches. We investigated the osmoregulatory mechanisms of the freshwater catfish Rhamdia quelen, which could justify occasional incursions and residence in brackish waters and their resistance to salt treatments in aquaculture. Specimens were exposed to freshwater (control) and dilute seawater (15 ‰) for 6 h. It was measured: plasma osmolality and Na+, K+, and Cl− concentrations; gills and kidneys Na+/K+-ATPase (NKA), V(H+)-ATPase (VAT), and carbonic anhydrase (CA) enzymes activities; gills enzymatic immunolocalization and Heat Shock Protein (HSP70) abundance. Our results showed that R. quelen presented hypoosmotic/ionic regulation in 15 ‰. However, there was no significant effect of the increased salinity on enzymatic activities in the gills and kidneys, or in the abundance of HSP70. All enzymatic activities, except for CA, were higher in the kidneys compared to the gills. The immunolocalization of NKA and VAT was observed in ionocytes of the interlamellar region of the gills, and the pavement cells, while CA was detected in both ionocytes and red blood cells. The lack of change in the abundance of HSP70 may be attributed to the protein’s high constitutive abundance in the gill cells. The results indicate a complex regulatory network in response to high salinity, showing that brief periods of salty water exposure could be enough for the species to move or spread in brackish waters or survive aquaculture disease treatments.
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The datasets analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Dr Marta Margarete Cestari and Dr Luiz Claudio Fernandes for laboratory support. This investigation is part of a master's degree submitted by ACM to the Graduate Program in Physiology, Physiology Department, UFPR.
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This investigation was financed by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) (CAPES scholarship grant to ACM) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq Grant to VP #477747/2009-4).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis was performed by Anieli C. Maraschi. Manuscript conception, revision and supervision was performed by Viviane Prodocimo. Manuscript was written and revised by Silvia M. M. Gutierre. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Anieli C. Maraschi and all authors commented on the subsequent versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Maraschi, A.C., Gutierre, S.M.M. & Prodocimo, V. Osmoregulation and HSP70 abundance in freshwater catfish Rhamdia quelen under acute salt exposure. Environ Biol Fish (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-024-01556-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-024-01556-9