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Interactive effects of some environmental and physiological variables on fluorescent age pigment accumulation in brain and heart tissues of an aquatic poikilotherm

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The present study was undertaken to determine the effects of temperature, ration level, photoperiod, and clutch on variation of fluorescent age-pigment (FAP) accumulation in brain and heart tissues of the freshwater teleost,Puntius conchonius. Two experiments were designed, one testing temperature and ration interactions, the other testing temperature and photoperiod interactions. Three non-sibling clutches were used in each experiment. Temperature affected FAP levels in brain and heart in both experiments, but in a different manner. Brain FAP was inversely correlated with rearing temperature in both experiments. Conversely, heart FAP was directly affected. Ration level affected FAP through body size effects, however, statistical analysis of this observation was not possible. Photoperiod had no significant effect on FAP in either tissue. Significant FAP differences were detected between non-sibling fish, implicating genomic variation in the rate of FAP genesis. The mixed effects of temperature on FAP in each tissue indicates involvement of factors other than metabolic rate in the formation of FAP products. It is proposed that homeoviscous adaptation via modification of cellular lipid constituents may affect the potential for lipid peroxidation and FAP formation in each tissue type at different temperatures.

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  1. Kevin T. Hill

    Present address: Southern California Edison, Redondo Marine Laboratory, 1100 North Harbor Drive, RedondoBeach, CA, 90277, U.S.A.

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  1. Department of Zoology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2538 The Mall, Honolulu, HI, 96822, U.S.A.

    Kevin T. Hill & Christopher Z. Womersley

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Hill, K.T., Womersley, C.Z. Interactive effects of some environmental and physiological variables on fluorescent age pigment accumulation in brain and heart tissues of an aquatic poikilotherm. Environ Biol Fish 37, 397–405 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00005207

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