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Effects of feed restriction on growth performance, lipid mobilization, and gene expression in rose spotted snapper (Lutjanus guttatus)

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Abstract

The effects of feed deprivation were evaluated for 1 week and 2 weeks in Lutjanus guttatus juveniles. A significant reduction in body mass was observed in both feed deprivation schemes, as well as in hepatosomatic, viscerosomatic and mesenteric fat indexes. The composition of fasted fish was characterized by a decrease in lipid content; the liver displayed an intense reduction of lipid reserves in both fasted groups, and increased expression of the lysosomal acid lipase. 1 week after re-feeding, both experimental groups showed an increase in specific growth rate, feed intake and feed conversion ratio. A recovery in hepatic lipid reserves was observed, and the expression of the lysosomal acid lipase decreased, although lipid content in both groups was still significantly lower than in control groups. Hepatic expression of the growth hormone receptor decreased after fasting, and remained low even after the fish were fed, whereas the expression of insulin-like growth factor 1 and 2 increased after fasting and decreased in both groups when fish were fed again. Altogether, these results showed a partial compensatory growth response in L. guttatus juveniles after fasting, with enhanced growth rates and improved feed efficiency. Fish used stored lipid reserves as the main energy source, and the expression of growth-related and lipid mobilization marker genes in the liver showed similar patterns in both fasting schemes. Based on the results, we suggest as much as 1-week fasting intervals during grow-out programmes to reduce visceral fat and increase growth rate in this species.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the staff of the marine finfish hatchery at CIAD for providing L. guttatus juveniles. We also thank Crisantema Hernández-González and Erika Sánchez-Gutierrez for the support provided in proximate composition analysis, Maria Cristina Chávez-Sánchez and Selene Abad-Rosales for the assistance in the histological analysis, Rubí Hernández-Cornejo for technical assistance, and Julia Torres-Velarde and Andrés Galeana for sampling assistance.

Funding

Financial support for this study was obtained from the National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT Grants nos 179098 and 258545) granted to AGG and RLH, respectively.

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Authors

Contributions

All authors contributed to the experimental design. Material preparation was performed by ME-R, JMM-B, LI-C, and RL-H. Sampling and data collection were performed by Mauricio Escalante-Rojas. Data processing was performed by ME-R, RL-H, and AG-G. All authors contributed to the discussion and interpretation of the results. The first draft of the manuscript was written by ME-R and AG-G. All authors revised and commented on all versions of the manuscript, and all authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alejandra García-Gasca.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures were performed according to Mexican guidelines and policies stated in the NOM-062-ZOO-1999 (these guidelines apply mostly to mammalian species but we applied the same principles regarding animal welfare and care), and British guidelines for fish welfare reported by Ashley (2007).

Additional information

Communicated by B. Pelster.

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Escalante-Rojas, M., Martínez-Brown, J.M., Ibarra-Castro, L. et al. Effects of feed restriction on growth performance, lipid mobilization, and gene expression in rose spotted snapper (Lutjanus guttatus). J Comp Physiol B 190, 275–286 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-020-01268-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-020-01268-3

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