Effects of cadmium at sub-lethal concentration on growth and biochemical parameters in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Cadmium (Cd), as one of heavy metals and an environmental stressor, may alter many physiological processes like growth and serum parameters in fish. The main objective of this study was to determine the effects of cadmium at sub-lethal concentrations (1 and 3 μg/l) on growth and serum biochemical parameters including enzymes, i.e. alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), glucose, triglyceride, cholesterol and total protein in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Trout were exposed to cadmium, and, at intervals of 1, 15, and 30 days, selected parameters were evaluated. Condition Factor (K), Specific Growth Rate (SGR) and Body Weight Gain (BWG) consistently decreased, while Food Conversion Ratio (FCR) increased at the end of experiment. Glucose was elevated in trout exposed to both Cd concentrations at day 15 and then returned to levels comparable to control fish. Triglyceride and cholesterol decreased transiently at day 15 and then increased at day 30. Total protein, AST, ALT and ALP increased linearly by time and Cd concentration. This investigation suggests that growth and serum biochemical parameters could be used as important and sensitive biomarkers in ecotoxicological studies concerning the effects of metal contamination and fish health.     

Increasing stocking density causes inhibition of metabolic–antioxidant enzymes and elevates mRNA levels of heat shock protein 70 in rainbow trout

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of stocking density on the activity of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGD) and glutathione reductase (GR) enzymes in liver, muscle, gill and kidney tissues of rainbow trout. Fish were reared at different stocking densities (15 kg/m³, 20 kg/m³, 25 kg/m³ and 30 kg/m³). After adaptation period of 30 days, the experiment was carried out for two months. Stocking density of the control group was 15 kg/m³. Increasing stocking density caused inhibition in the activities of the enzymes except for kidney G6PD and 6PGD. Activity of both pentose phosphate pathway enzymes unexpectedly increased only in kidney whereas inhibition was observed in other tissues. Since the most powerful and gradual attenuation was observed in muscle tissue for all enzymes, we performed quantitative Real Time PCR to examine the expression of heat shock protein (Hsp70) gene in muscle in order to understand whether the decrease in enzyme activities is associated with stress. The mRNA expression data showed that Hsp70 expression levels significantly elevated at 25 kg/m³ and 30 kg/m³ stocking densities. Overall results indicate that increasing stocking density blocks the activity of metabolic and antioxidant enzymes and causes considerable stress in rainbow trout. The most susceptible tissue to increasing stocking density was observed to be the muscle.     

Replacing fish oil and astaxanthin by microalgal sources produced different metabolic responses in juvenile rainbow trout fed 2 types of practical diets

Dietary fish oil supplementation provides n-3 long-chained polyunsaturated fatty acids for supporting fish growth and metabolism and enriching fillet with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; 20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; c22:6n-3). Two experiments were performed as a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement of dietary treatments for 16 wk to determine effects and mechanisms of replacing 0%, 50%, and 100% fish oil with DHA-rich microalgae in combination with synthetic vs. microalgal source of astaxanthin in plant protein meal (PM)- or fishmeal (FM)- based diets for juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Fish (22 ± 0.26 g) were stocked at 17/tank and 3 tanks/diet. The 100% fish oil replacement impaired (P < 0.0001) growth performance, dietary protein and energy utilization, body indices, and tissue accumulation of DHA and EPA in both diet series. The impairments were associated (P < 0.05) with upregulation of hepatic gene expression related to growth (ghr1and igf1) and biosynthesis of DHA and EPA (fads6 and evol5) that was more dramatic in the FM than PM diet-fed fish, and more pronounced on tissue EPA than DHA concentrations. The source of astaxanthin exerted interaction effects with the fish oil replacement on several measures including muscle total cholesterol concentrations. In conclusion, replacing fish oil by the DHA-rich microalgae produced more negative metabolic responses than the substitution of synthetic astaxanthin by the microalgal source in juvenile rainbow trout fed 2 types of practical diets.