Integration of systemic and mucosal responses to stressors in Aquacultured fish

• Grant number: 21/11725-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: March 01, 2022
• End date: August 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Compared Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Renata Guimarães Moreira Whitton
• Grantee: Jennifer Lima de Oliveira
• Supervisor: Lluis Tort
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 20/10937-3 - Elongation and desaturation capacity of 18-carbon polyunsaturated fatty acids and their influence on the non-specific immune response of Astyanax fasciatus, BP.MS

Abstract

Since, globally, aquaculture is the fastest-growing agroindustry and the incidence of several culture conditions, as excessive stocking densities, use of chemicals and the presence of external contaminants can target very relevant changes in the health or performance of fish, it's important to understand and to assess how changes in the environment affect the control of stress of fish, besides that food security. The response to stress can be characterized as non-specific, being highly dependent on the intensity, type of the stressor, the species and environment concerned and involving all physiological regulatory systems and behavioral adjustments. In this sense, many pharmaceuticals are widely found in the aquatic environment mainly from human excretion. Gemfibrozil (GEM) is a pharmaceutical used to treat abnormal blood triglyceride levels, with concentrations reported in coastal waters up to 758 ng/L. In fact, these compounds are not currently analyzed for the control public drinking water by health authorities. In this sense, this project which is part of a bigger project, aims to investigate and describe the relationship between systemic-mucosal mechanisms with the aim of gain insight in the stress response and therefore improve fish performance, health and welfare. For this, will be realized an acute and a subchronic exposure with the concentration range of 0, 100 and 500 g L1 of GEM for 96 h and 7 days to determine changes in the stress neuroendocrine axis (brain, pituitary, head kidney and blood) and systemic immunity (head kidney, spleen, blood) under different experimental chronic stress conditions (microcontaminants); changes in the mucosal surfaces (skin, gills) under chronic stress conditions; beside comparing the overall stress systemic-mucosal differences.