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Lipid transport in female Fundulus heteroclitus during the reproductive season

Fish Physiology and Biochemistry volume 25, pages 141–151 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Lipid transport during the reproductive cycle of seasonally spawning teleosts has been well described. However, there is little information on lipid transport in a multiple spawning teleost. We examined lipid transport during the reproductive cycle in Fundulus heteroclitus, a teleost that spawns in a semilunar fashion. Plasma levels of triglycerides more than double prior to spawning events and then drop off sharply around the time of spawning. Plasma levels of total cholesterol also changed throughout the spawning cycle, but those changes were not so pronounced. The fraction of lipid carried by very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) was greatest prior to spawning events, while high density lipoprotein (HDL) carried the greatest portion of lipid during the spawning period. Vitellogenin (Vtg) was detected prior to spawning events, but it never represented more than 5% of total plasma lipid, making it very unlikely that Vtg is responsible for the changes in plasma lipids that we observed. It is also unlikely that Vtg is solely responsible for transport of lipid to growing ovaries because it carries only a very small portion of plasma lipid. This is the first study we are aware of, that tracks changes in plasma lipids of a multiple spawning teleost with a great enough sampling frequency to resolve single spawning events.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Manhattanville College, 2900 Purchase St., Purchase, NY, 10577, USA

    B.H. Jensen

  2. Department of Biological Sciences and College of Marine Studies, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 19716, USA

    M.H. Taylor

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  1. B.H. Jensen
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  2. M.H. Taylor
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Jensen, B., Taylor, M. Lipid transport in female Fundulus heteroclitus during the reproductive season. Fish Physiology and Biochemistry 25, 141–151 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020564121935

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020564121935

  • fundulus
  • lipoprotein
  • plasma
  • reproduction
  • teleost

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