Abstract
The red drum Sciaenops ocellatus is a marine fish species of high commercial interest. Despite improvements in current aquaculture practices, there are still concerns about the impact of daily manipulations regarding fish welfare. To investigate how does fish respond to various challenges, S. ocellatus juveniles were submitted to two acute challenges, namely a confinement stress and a cold-temperature shock, as well as a chronic stress challenge consisting of 18 days of repetitive challenge events. The level of cortisol produced by individuals was used as a measure of activation hypothalamic-pituitary-interrenal (HPI) axis. A significant increase in cortisol levels was detected only after the confinement stress. Interestingly, the fish exposed to a chronic stress for 18 days exhibited cortisol levels significantly lower than those of non-challenged fish. The small RNA-sequencing conducted for the chronic stress experiment only allowed us to identify two plasmatic microRNAs more abundant in non-challenged fish (miR-205–1-5p and let-7b-5p) compared to challenged fish. The miR-205–1-5p was of particular interest since it was already detected in previous studies on other fish species. In silico analysis allowed to predict potentially highly conserved mRNA targets of this specific miRNA, among which is tnfrsfa that plays a key role in the secondary stress response.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the teams from Station Ifremer Palavas-les-Flots (France) and Le Robert (France).
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This work was funded by a grant from the European Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Fund (MiRNAs sex & stress, MiSS n°20–00070).
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B.G., J.C.F. and C.H. designed the research. S.L. and S.D. provided the zootechnical part. C.H. and B.G. performed the experiment with the help of S.L., J.C.F. and S.D. C.H analysed the data with the help of X.M. and E.B.B. C.H. and B.G. wrote the manuscript.
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All fish were handled in accordance with the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare Use and Care Committee Handbook on the Care and Management of Laboratory Animals (http://www.ufaw.org.uk/pubs.htm#Lab) and following the guidelines for animal experimentation established by Directive 2010–63-EU of the European Union. Stressful experiments were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations provided by the ethic committee (no. 36) of the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research, and Innovation and the experiment received the following agreement number: APAFIS #30612–2021031812193539.
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Houdelet, C., Blondeau-Bidet, E., Mialhe, X. et al. Plasma cortisol and production of miRNAs in red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) exposed to three distinct challenges. Fish Physiol Biochem 50, 757–766 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-024-01304-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-024-01304-x