Assessment of the effects of exogenous cortisol administration on the feeding behavior of Nile tilapia exposed to acute stress

• Grant number: 23/14564-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2024
• End date: January 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Fishery Resources and Fishery Engineering - Aquaculture
• Principal Investigator: Rodrigo Egydio Barreto
• Grantee: Julia dos Santos Melo
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IBB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Stress is a phenomenon that impacts several biological processes in organisms and understanding stress can have many implications for improving the conditions of farm animals, such as fish. In this context, there is an association between stress and feeding behavior in fish. Typically, increased stress levels are associated with decreased appetite and food intake. However, this is a general finding and the variability of that is not well known. Along these lines, in mammals (including humans), in some situations, stress can inhibit eating, but can also induce hyperphagia (e.g. 'binge eating'). We propose that the prior (baseline) stress state impacts the response to a new stressor and therefore the degree of resulting stress is hypothesized to impact the degree of feeding. We will simulate different states of previous stress by exogenously administering cortisol, challenge the animal with a stressful stimulus ('handling') and assess whether there is a fluctuation in feeding behavior. We will use Nile tilapia, one of the main animals in Brazilian and global agriculture, as an experimental model, making it relevant to understand stress and its impacts in applied terms, in addition to theoretical ones.