Abstract
An experiment was conducted in order to evaluate the effects of feeding frozen Artemia diets differing in arachidonic acid-to-eicosapentaenoic acid ratios (ARA/EPA) on growth, survival and stress coping ability of Senegalese sole post-larvae (19–31 days after hatch). Two experimental diets presenting high (‘High’; 3.0) or low (‘Low’; 0.7) ARA/EPA ratios were tested under two rearing conditions: undisturbed (C) and stressed by a 2-min air exposure every two days (S). Growth, survival and basal cortisol levels were similar between groups indicating that independently of dietary ARA/EPA ratios, fish were able to cope with the repeated stress imposed. Also, cortisol levels at 3 h past air exposure were determined in all groups at the end of the experiment. Among fish fed the ‘Low’ diet, C groups seemed to present a quicker recovery from the acute stress (basal-like levels) than S groups. Repeated stress effects were not apparent in fish fed the ‘High’ diet and, relative to basal levels, twofold higher cortisol concentrations were detected at 3 h, in both C and S groups. This study suggests the importance of ARA in steroidogenesis regulation and the modulatory role of EPA in this process. Despite the tolerance to a wide range of dietary ARA/EPA as indicated by growth and survival results, acute stress coping response may be more efficient in Senegalese sole post-larvae fed low ARA/EPA ratios and, under these particular conditions, a faster recovery of cortisol to basal values could be indicative of rearing conditions (undisturbed vs. repeatedly stressed).
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Abbreviations
- ALA:
-
Alpha-linolenic acid
- ARA:
-
Arachidonic acid
- DAH:
-
Days after hatch
- DHA:
-
Docosahexaenoic acid
- DPAn-3:
-
Docosapentaenoic acid
- EPA:
-
Eicosapentaenoic acid
- LC-PUFA:
-
Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids
- MUFA:
-
Monounsaturated fatty acids
- OLA:
-
Oleic acid
- RGR:
-
Relative growth rate
- SAFA:
-
Saturated fatty acids
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Acknowledgments
This study was funded by project EFARFish—‘A New Method for the Study of Essential Fatty Acid Requirements in Fish Larvae’ (PTDC/MAR/67017/2006), granted by ‘Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia’, (FCT), Portugal, with the support of FEDER, and by the project FUNDIGEST (AGL2007-64450-C02-01), granted by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) with the support of FEDER. Dulce Alves Martins and Sofia Engrola were supported by grants SFRH/BPD/32469/2006 and SFRH/BPD/49051/2008, respectively (FCT, Portugal). This publication benefits from participation in LARVANET COST action FA0801.
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Alves Martins, D., Engrola, S., Morais, S. et al. Cortisol response to air exposure in Solea senegalensis post-larvae is affected by dietary arachidonic acid-to-eicosapentaenoic acid ratio. Fish Physiol Biochem 37, 733–743 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-011-9473-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-011-9473-4