Abstract
This study evaluated how the plasma steroid hormones testosterone (T) and 17β-estradiol (E2) are related to follicular development in regenerating females of the cururu stingray, Potamotrygon wallacei, during the rising water season of the middle Rio Negro basin. The relative weight of hepatic and ovarian tissues, as well as the morphological changes in the vitellogenic follicles, were related to the increase in the water level. Correlations between the maximum follicular diameter (MFD) and E2 and T levels suggest a concomitant action of these steroids in controlling follicular growth. These associations support the idea that the reproduction of this species is synchronous with the local hydrological cycle of the middle Rio Negro basin.
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Acknowledgements
Authors thank the professional fishers from Barcelos, Amazonas, for their support in collecting the wild P. wallacei females. To the Biomolecule Purification Laboratory, BIOTEC Multidisciplinary Support Center and Aya Sadahiro Ph.D. at the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM) for their support in the immunoassay analyses. This investigation had prior authorization (SISBIO No. 18285–1) from the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) – Ministry of the Environment, and was conducted in accordance with the guidelines of the Ethics Committee for the Use of Animals in Research from the Federal University of Amazonas (Protocol CEUA/UFAM # 002/2017).
Funding
This work was financed by a grant from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, Brazil) to JLM (process #48566/2013–0). A doctoral grant was provided to RDMG by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas (FAPEAM, process # 003/2019 POSGREP).
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Ruben Dario Morales-Gamba conceptualized, conducted the fieldwork, conducted the morphological and hormonal analysis, analyzed the data, and wrote the draft manuscript. Maria Lúcia Góes de Araújo conceptualized and supervised the experiments, conducted the morphological analysis and interpretation of reproductive data. José Fernando Marques Barcellos conducted the morphological analysis and assisted with the data analysis. Jaydione Luiz Marcon conceptualized and supervised the experiments, provided the funding acquisition, conducted the fieldwork, and gave final approval for the version to be published. All authors contributed to reviewing and editing the manuscript.
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Morales-Gamba, R.D., de Araújo, M.L.G., Barcellos, J.F. et al. Follicular growth and sex steroids in adult females of the endemic Amazonian freshwater stingray Potamotrygon wallacei (Chondrichthyes, Potamotrygonidae). Environ Biol Fish 104, 1665–1672 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-021-01191-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-021-01191-8