The acute stress response of red porgy, Pagrus pagrus, kept on a red or white background.

The skin colour of red porgy, Pagrus pagrus, can be modified by exposure to different background colours. Red and white background colours brighten the dark skin colour that develops under common culture conditions in red porgy. To assess whether skin colour is also modified by aquaculture related handling stress, we subjected red porgy to 5 min of netting stress combined with air exposure. Fish kept on a white background have: (1) a lighter skin colour, which is not influenced by an acute stressor, (2) a less saturated red colour, which significantly decreases 24h post-handling, and (3) a similar hue as fish kept on a red background. The first plasma parameters to rise after application of the stressor are cortisol, lactate and Na(+); then, glucose levels rose. Other plasma ions (Ca(2+), Cl(-), K(+)) were not affected up to 2h post-stressor, but had decreased at 8 and 24h after handling. Plasma pH decreased over the first 2h post-handling, indicative of plasma acidosis upon air exposure. The acidosis then coincided with increases in plasma lactate levels. As alphaMSH levels were not significantly affected by the stressor while cortisol levels showed a five to tenfold increase, we suggest that following acute stress in red porgy, plasma cortisol release is controlled by ACTH, perhaps in combination with a sympathic stimulation.

Alpha-MSH, the melanocortin-1 receptor and background adaptation in the Mozambique tilapia, Oreochromis mossambicus.

The regulation of skin darkness in vertebrates is mediated by alpha-melanophore-stimulating-hormone (alphaMSH). For this action, alphaMSH binds to the melanocortin (MC)-1 receptor, a 7-transmembrane receptor located in melanophore cell membranes. The Mozambique tilapia, Oreochromis mossambicus, can change the hue of its body in response to a change in background, a process that may involve alphaMSH and the MC1R. Scale melanophores were isolated from tilapia that were acclimatised for 25 days to a black, control grey or white background and then tested for their sensitivity to des-, mono-, and di-acetylated alphaMSH. On all backgrounds, mono-acetylated alphaMSH was the dominant isoform present in pituitary homogenates. Mono-acetylated alphaMSH also had the highest potency to disperse melanosomes. Black background adapted fish showed the highest dispersing response to alphaMSH, independent of the isoform applied. We elucidated the nucleotide and amino acid sequence of the tilapia MC1R. We show that its expression in skin does not change when tilapia are acclimatised for 25 days to a black, grey or white background, while a clear change in hue is visible. This finding, combined with the absence of differential MC1R gene expression following background acclimation indicates that the increased sensitivity to alphaMSH is most likely a result of changes in the intracellular signalling system in melanophores of black background adapted fish, rather than up-regulation of the MC1R.

Background adaptation and water acidification affect pigmentation and stress physiology of tilapia, Oreochromis mossambicus.

The ability to adjust skin darkness to the background is a common phenomenon in fish. The hormone alpha-melanophore-stimulating hormone (alphaMSH) enhances skin darkening. In Mozambique tilapia, Oreochromis mossambicus L., alphaMSH acts as a corticotropic hormone during adaptation to water with a low pH, in addition to its role in skin colouration. In the current study, we investigated the responses of this fish to these two environmental challenges when it is exposed to both simultaneously. The skin darkening of tilapia on a black background and the lightening on grey and white backgrounds are compromised in water with a low pH, indicating that the two vastly different processes both rely on alphaMSH-regulatory mechanisms. If the water is acidified after 25 days of undisturbed background adaptation, fish showed a transient pigmentation change but recovered after two days and continued the adaptation of their skin darkness to match the background. Black backgrounds are experienced by tilapia as more stressful than grey or white backgrounds both in neutral and in low pH water. A decrease of water pH from 7.8 to 4.5 applied over a two-day period was not experienced as stressful when combined with background adaptation, based on unchanged plasma pH and plasma alphaMSH, and Na levels. However, when water pH was lowered after 25 days of undisturbed background adaptation, particularly alphaMSH levels increased chronically. In these fish, plasma pH and Na levels had decreased, indicating a reduced capacity to maintain ion-homeostasis, implicating that the fish indeed experience stress. We conclude that simultaneous exposure to these two types of stressor has a lower impact on the physiology of tilapia than subsequent exposure to the stressors.

Differential release of alpha-melanophore stimulating hormone isoforms by the pituitary gland of red porgy, Pagrus pagrus.

The best known actions of the pleiotrope alpha-melanophore stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) are skin pigment regulation and corticotrope actions in the response to chronic stress. Stress-induced and enhanced release of alpha-MSH may therefore influence skin pigmentation and stress physiology simultaneously. The release of alpha-MSH is under multiple control by hypothalamic hormones and neurotransmitters. Thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH), corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH), melanophore concentrating hormone (MCH), and dopamine (DA) have been tested in a superfusion set up for their potential to regulate alpha-MSH release from the pituitary gland of red porgy, Pagrus pagrus, in vitro. The release of alpha-MSH was stimulated by TRH and CRH, and was inhibited by MCH and DA. During unstimulated (basal) release, mono-acetylated alpha-MSH was the dominant form. During superfusion with secretagogues, we found that independent of their inhibitory or stimulatory capacity, isoform frequency did not change. MSH-isoform ratios were similar for all the substances that were used, except that both the inhibitory and the stimulatory factors increased the percentage of di-acetylated alpha-MSH at low concentrations (10(-11)M) when compared to their effects at high concentrations (10(-7)M).