Circulating Catecholamine and Glucose Concentrations in Japanese Toads ( Bufo japonicus) during the Breeding Season

• Published in: General and comparative endocrinology Vol. 98; no. 3; pp. 303 - 310
• Main Authors: Wilson, J.X., Sawai, H., Kikuchi, M., Kubokawa, K., Ishii, S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.06.1995
• Subjects: Animals; Blood Glucose - metabolism; Bufo japonicus; Bufonidae - blood; Epinephrine - blood; Female; Freshwater; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone - analogs & derivatives; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone - pharmacology; Male; Reproduction - physiology; Salmon; Seasons
• ISSN: 0016-6480; 1095-6840
• DOI: 10.1006/gcen.1995.1072

We investigated the relationship between catecholamine neurohormones and glucose during seasonal reproductive activity in Japanese toads ( Bufo japonicus). Field studies found that plasma epinephrine concentration increased as toads migrated to their breeding ponds, were amplexus most frequently took place. Blood glucose concentration also increased as toads arrived at the ponds, even though these animals did not eat during the breeding season, and there was a positive correlation between epinephrine and glucose levels. Blood glucose concentration was higher in amplectic than in solitary males whereas this relationship did not occur in females. For both males and females, plasma epinephrine concentration was elevated during amplexus. The plasma concentration of norepinephrine was lower than that of epinephrine and did not correlate with either the proximity of the animal to the breeding ponds or the blood glucose concentration. Laboratory experiments showed that systemic injection of [Trp 7,Leu 8]gonadotropin-releasing hormone (sGnRH) increased plasma epinephrine to levels characteristic of amplectic feral toads. These results suggest that a physiological role of GnRH-like peptides may be stimulate epinephrine secretion and consequently to increase glucose production in toads under the starvation conditions associated with the breeding migration.