Dietary methionine deficiency affects oxidative status, mitochondrial integrity and mitophagy in the liver of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

The low levels of methionine in vegetable raw materials represent a limit to their use in aquafeed. Methionine is considered as an important factor in the control of oxidative status. However, restriction of dietary methionine has been shown to reduce generation of mitochondrial oxygen radicals and thus oxidative damage in liver. Here, we aim to evaluate the effect of dietary methionine deficiency in hepatic oxidative status in rainbow trout and identify the underlying mechanisms. Fish were fed for 6 weeks diets containing two different methionine concentrations: deficient (MD, Methionine Deficient diet) or adequate (CTL, control diet). At the end of the experiment, fish fed the MD diet showed a significantly lower body weight and feed efficiency compared to fish fed the CTL diet. Growth reduction of the MD group was associated to a general mitochondrial defect and a concomitant decrease of the oxidative status in the liver. The obtained results also revealed a sharp increase of mitochondrial degradation through mitophagy in these conditions and emphasized the involvement of the PINK1/PARKIN axis in this event. Collectively, these results provide a broader understanding of the mechanisms at play in the reduction of oxidant status upon dietary methionine deficiency.

Oxygen consumption constrains food intake in fish fed diets varying in essential amino acid composition.

Compromisation of food intake when confronted with diets deficient in essential amino acids is a common response of fish and other animals, but the underlying physiological factors are poorly understood. We hypothesize that oxygen consumption of fish is a possible physiological factor constraining food intake. To verify, we assessed the food intake and oxygen consumption of rainbow trout fed to satiation with diets which differed in essential amino acid (methionine and lysine) compositions: a balanced vs. an imbalanced amino acid diet. Both diets were tested at two water oxygen levels: hypoxia vs. normoxia. Trout consumed 29% less food under hypoxia compared to normoxia (p<0.001). Under both hypoxia and normoxia trout significantly reduced food intake by 11% and 16% respectively when fed the imbalanced compared to the balanced amino acid diet. Oxygen consumption of the trout per unit body mass remained identical for both diet groups not only under hypoxia but also under normoxia (p>0.05). This difference in food intake between diets under normoxia together with the identical oxygen consumption supports the hypothesis that food intake in fish can be constrained by a set-point value of oxygen consumption, as seen here on a six-week time scale.

Voluntary feed intake in rainbow trout is regulated by diet-induced differences in oxygen use.

This study investigated the hypothesis that the voluntary feed intake in fish is regulated by diet-induced differences in oxygen use. Four diets were prepared with a similar digestible protein:digestible energy ratio (18 mg/kJ), but which differed in the composition of nonprotein energy source. This replacement of fat (F) by starch (S) was intended to create a diet-induced difference in oxygen use (per unit of feed): diets F30-S70, F50-S50, F65-S35, and F80-S20 with digestible fat providing 28, 49, 65, and 81% of the nonprotein digestible energy (NPDE), respectively. Each diet was fed to satiation to triplicate groups of 20 rainbow trout for 6 wk. As expected, diet-induced oxygen use decreased linearly (R(2) = 0.89; P < 0.001) with increasing NPDE as fat. The digestible and metabolizable energy intakes of trout slightly increased with increasing NPDE as fat (i.e., decreasing starch content) (R(2) = 0.30, P = 0.08; and R(2) = 0.34, P = 0.05, respectively). Oxygen consumption of trout fed to satiation declined with increasing dietary NPDE as fat (R(2) = 0.48; P = 0.01). The inverse relation between digestible energy intake of trout and the diet-induced oxygen use (R(2) = 0.33; P = 0.05) suggests a possible role of diet-induced oxygen use in feed intake regulation as shown by the replacement of dietary fat by starch.

Response of hepatic lipid and glucose metabolism to a mixture or single fatty acids: Possible presence of fatty acid-sensing mechanisms.

To assess the hypothesis that an acute dietary fatty acid (FA) supply may improve glucose tolerance in rainbow trout, we orally administered fish with fish oil (FO; 10mL.kg(-1), one time), which were then subjected to a glucose tolerance test and sampled 6h after injection. Parameters related to glucose and lipid metabolism were then assessed. The results suggest that when both nutrients were administered at the same time, an increased potential for lipogenesis occurred concomitantly with a lower level of glycaemia. In a second experiment we administered intraperitoneally a single FA present in the FO mixture such as oleic acid (60 or 300µg.kg(-1)) whereas octanoic acid (60 or 300µg.kg(-1)) was used as negative control (absent from the FO). However, the effects of both FA were similar in reducing the potential of lipid synthesis and oxidation, and in enhancing the potential of glucose synthesis and glycogenesis. Differences found between FO and single FA administration show that response to FA was dependent on the treatment (mixture vs. single FA) but also comply with the idea that an interaction between FA and glucose rather than FA alone are in the origin of the results reported. The administration of individual FA such as oleic and octanoic acid failed in enhancing lipogenesis and reducing plasma glucose levels and thus in explaining results obtained with FO. However, results provide evidence that FA even provided at a low dose play a key role in the regulation of several putative components of a FA sensing system present in rainbow trout liver.

A comparative study of the metabolic response in rainbow trout and Nile tilapia to changes in dietary macronutrient composition.

Metabolic mechanisms underlying the divergent response of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) to changes in dietary macronutrient composition were assessed. Fish were fed one of four isoenergetic diets having a digestible protein-to-digestible energy (DP:DE) ratio above or below the optimal DP:DE ratio for both species. At each DP:DE ratio, fat was substituted by an isoenergetic amount of digestible starch as the non-protein energy source (NPE). Dietary DP:DE ratio did not affect growth and only slightly lowered protein gains in tilapia. In rainbow trout fed diets with low DP:DE ratios, particularly with starch as the major NPE source, growth and protein utilisation were highly reduced, underlining the importance of NPE source in this species. We also observed species-specific responses of enzymes involved in amino acid catabolism, lipogenesis and gluconeogenesis to dietary factors. Amino acid transdeamination enzyme activities were reduced by a low dietary DP:DE ratio in both species and in tilapia also by the substitution of fat by starch as the NPE source. Such decreased amino acid catabolism at high starch intakes, however, did not lead to improved protein retention. Our data further suggest that a combination of increased lipogenic and decreased gluconeogenic enzyme activities accounts for the better use of carbohydrates and to the improved glycaemia control in tilapia compared with rainbow tront fed starch-enriched diets with low DP:DE ratio.

Constraints on energy intake in fish: the link between diet composition, energy metabolism, and energy intake in rainbow trout.

The hypothesis was tested that fish fed to satiation with iso-energetic diets differing in macronutrient composition will have different digestible energy intakes (DEI) but similar total heat production. Four iso-energetic diets (2 × 2 factorial design) were formulated having a contrast in i) the ratio of protein to energy (P/E): high (H(P/E)) vs. low (L(P/E)) and ii) the type of non-protein energy (NPE) source: fat vs. carbohydrate which were iso-energetically exchanged. Triplicate groups (35 fish/tank) of rainbow trout were hand-fed each diet twice daily to satiation for 6 weeks under non-limiting water oxygen conditions. Feed intake (FI), DEI (kJ kg(-0.8) d(-1)) and growth (g kg(-0.8) d(-1)) of trout were affected by the interaction between P/E ratio and NPE source of the diet (P<0.05). Regardless of dietary P/E ratio, the inclusion of carbohydrate compared to fat as main NPE source reduced DEI and growth of trout by ~20%. The diet-induced differences in FI and DEI show that trout did not compensate for the dietary differences in digestible energy or digestible protein contents. Further, changes in body fat store and plasma glucose did not seem to exert a homeostatic feedback control on DEI. Independent of the diet composition, heat production of trout did not differ (P>0.05). Our data suggest that the control of DEI in trout might be a function of heat production, which in turn might reflect a physiological limit related with oxidative metabolism.

Macronutrient-induced differences in food intake relate with hepatic oxidative metabolism and hypothalamic regulatory neuropeptides in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

This study examines how dietary macronutrient-induced changes in voluntary food intake (FI) relate to changes in markers of hepatic oxidative metabolism and in the expression of FI regulatory neuropeptides in a teleost model, the rainbow trout. Rainbow trout were fed for 6weeks with one of four iso-energetic diets (2×2 factorial design), containing either a high (HP, ~500 g·kg(-1) DM) or a low (LP, ~250 g·kg(-1) DM) protein level (PL) with, at each PL, fat (diets HP-F and LP-F) being substituted by an iso-energetic amount of gelatinized corn starch (diets HP-St and LP-St) as non-protein energy source (ES). Irrespective of the dietary PL, FI (g·kg(-0.8)·d(-1)) and digestible energy intake (DEI, kJ·kg(-0.8)·d(-1)) were significantly (P<0.05) reduced by the iso-energetic replacement of fat by starch as non-protein ES. Interestingly, trout fed these St-diets had higher gene expression of markers of hepatic oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos), i.e., ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase subunit 2 (UCR2) and cytochrome oxidase subunit 4 (COX4) and of aerobic oxidative capacity (CS, citrate synthase), which paralleled glucokinase (GK) transcription. This positive relation suggests that glucose phosphorylation and markers of mitochondrial OxPhos are linked at the hepatic level and possibly triggered the observed reduction in FI. Moreover, trout displaying the reduced FI had higher cocaine amphetamine regulator transcript (CART) mRNA in hypothalamus, whereas neuropeptide Y (NPY) mRNA did not follow the macronutrient-induced changes in FI. Further studies are needed to unravel the mechanisms by which diet-induced changes in hepatic metabolism inform central feeding centers involved in the regulation of FI in fish.

Link between lipid metabolism and voluntary food intake in rainbow trout fed coconut oil rich in medium-chain TAG.

We examined the long-term effect of feeding coconut oil (CO; rich in lauric acid, C12) on voluntary food intake and nutrient utilisation in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), with particular attention to the metabolic use (storage or oxidation) of ingested medium-chain TAG. Trout were fed for 15 weeks one of the four isoproteic diets containing fish oil (FO) or CO as fat source (FS), incorporated at 5% (low fat, LF) or 15% (high fat, HF). Fat level or FS did not modify food intake (g/kg(0·8) per d), despite higher intestinal cholecystokinin-T mRNA in trout fed the HF-FO diet. The HF diets relative to the LF ones induced higher growth and adiposity, whereas the replacements of FO by CO resulted in similar growth and adiposity. This, together with the substantial retention of C12 (57% of intake), suggests the relatively low oxidation of ingested C12. The down-regulation of carnitine palmitoyl-transferase-1 (CPT-1) confirms the minor dependency of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA) on CPT-1 to enter the mitochondria. However, MCFA did not up-regulate mitochondrial oxidation evaluated using hepatic hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase as a marker, in line with their high retention in body lipids. At a low lipid level, MCFA increased mRNA levels of fatty acid synthase, elongase and stearoyl-CoA desaturase in liver, showing the hepatic activation of fatty acid synthesis pathways by MCFA, reflected by increased 16 : 0, 18 : 0, 16 : 1, 18 : 1 body levels. The high capacity of trout to incorporate and transform C12, rather than to readily oxidise C12, contrasts with data in mammals and may explain the absence of a satiating effect of CO in rainbow trout.

High levels of dietary fat impair glucose homeostasis in rainbow trout.

This study was designed to assess the effects of dietary fat levels on glucose homeostasis in rainbow trout under prolonged hyperglycaemia induced by high carbohydrate intake. Trout were fed identical amounts of one of two iso-energetic diets containing either a low (LFD, 3%) or a high fat level (HFD, 20%) and similar amounts of digestible carbohydrates (26-30%) for 14 days. While a single high fat meal reduced glycaemia compared with a low fat meal, the consumption of a high fat diet for 14 days resulted in prolonged hypergylcaemia and reduced plasma glucose clearance in response to an exogenous glucose or insulin challenge. The hyperglycaemic phenotype in trout was characterised by a reduction of the activities of lipogenic and glucose phosphorylating enzymes with a concomitant stimulation of enzymes involved in glucose production in the liver and reduced glycogen levels in the white muscle. Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) was further associated with a significant reduction of insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS1) protein content in muscle, and with a poor response of HFD fed fish to an exogenous insulin load, suggestive of impaired insulin signalling in trout fed with a HFD. To our knowledge, this is the first study showing that a teleost can also develop a high fat-induced IGT, characterised by persistent hyperglycaemia and reduced insulin sensitivity, established symptoms of IGT and the prediabetic insulin-resistant state in mammals. Our results also provide evidence that persistent hyperglycaemia after a high carbohydrate meal stems from a metabolic interaction between dietary macronutrients rather than from high carbohydrate intake alone.

Modulation of blackspot seabream (Pagellus bogaraveo) intermediary metabolic pathways by dispensable amino acids.

The objective of the present work is to investigate the main metabolic pathways by which dispensable amino acids (DAA) are diverted towards lipid formation in blackspot seabream. For that purpose, a control diet was formulated to contain 45% of crude protein (7.2 g N/100 g dry matter) mainly supplied by fish meal (45P). In two other diets, 22.2% of the dietary nitrogen (1.6 g N/100 g dry matter) was replaced by an equivalent amount of nitrogen provided by two different mixtures of DAA: alanine and serine (diet AS) or aspartic and glutamic acid (diet AG). A fourth diet (diet 35P) only containing 35% of crude protein (5.6 g N/100 g dry matter) was included in order to analyze the possible additive effects of DAA. Compared to fish fed diet 35P, blackspot seabream appear to make a more efficient use of the nitrogen provided by alanine and serine than that provided by aspartic and glutamic acids in terms of growth. Contrary to fish fed AG, fish fed AS attained similar specific FAS activities as 45P fed fish, suggesting a further role of alanine and serine on this lipogenic pathway. Dietary nitrogen reduction (45P vs. 35P) or its replacement by a mixture of aspartic and glutamic acids (diet AG) were shown to up-regulate phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) but without, however, any effect on plasma glucose levels. Dietary nitrogen level and nature seems to exert a complex regulation on energetic pathways through the gluconeogenesis/tricarboxylic acids cycle interaction.