Effect of Salinity on Growth Hormone Family and Gonadotropin/Gonadal Axis of Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus

The growth hormone (GH)/prolactin (PRL) family is affected not only by salinity but also by reproduction. Moreover, tilapias survive at relatively high salinity among the freshwater fish. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of different environmental salinities on the GH-, PRL-,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inFisheries and aquaculture journal Vol. 8; no. 4; p. 1
Main Authors Mousa, Mostafa A, Kora, Mohamed F, Hashem, Amal M, Khalil, Noha A
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published HATASO Enterprises, LLC 01.12.2017
Subjects
Fishery research
Prolactin
Salinity
Tilapia
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Summary:The growth hormone (GH)/prolactin (PRL) family is affected not only by salinity but also by reproduction. Moreover, tilapias survive at relatively high salinity among the freshwater fish. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of different environmental salinities on the GH-, PRL-, somatolactin (SL)-, and gonadotropin hormone (GTH)-producing cells during the maturation of female Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus. Therefore, we investigated the immunohistochemical changes on the growth hormone of family cells (GH-, PRL-, and SL-secreting cells) as well as GTH gonadal axis of Nile tilapia, O. niloticus, in response to a salinity challenge. Fishes acclimated to three environmental salinities (5[per thousand], 10[per thousand], and 15[per thousand]) for three months exhibit a dramatic decrease in the area and size of the GH family- and GTH-immunoreactive (ir) cells. The integrated optical density (IOD) of GH family and GTH immunoreactivity within corresponding cells was significantly decreased at the different levels of water salinity (5[per thousand], 10[per thousand], and 15[per thousand]). Meanwhile, the low values of gonadosomatic index (GSI%) and ovarian histology revealed a decrease of maturing follicles concomitant with an increase of atretic follicles in females exposed to higher water salinity. Taken together, the changes in the activity of the PRL-, SL-, GH-, and GTH-ir pituitary cells concomitant with the ovarian atretic follicles in response to the increase in environmental salinity that support the possible role of osmoregulation on PRL, SL, and GH/GTH gonadal axis during tilapia aquaculture. Keywords: Water salinity; Reproduction; Pituitary gland; Immunoreactivity; Oreochromis niloticus
ISSN:2150-3508
2150-3508
DOI:10.4172/2150-3508.1000227