Factors Affecting Fish Food Intake

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Aquatic Animals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 7826

Special Issue Editor

Department of Functional Biology and Health Sciences, Faculty of Biology, University of Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
Interests: aquaculture; fish; food intake regulation; nutrient sensing; metabolism; comparative endocrinology; comparative physiology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Every animal depends on feeding to obtain the energy necessary for all biological and physiological functions. Feeding is a complex behaviour, regulated by a sophisticated network governed by the central nervous system, in which numerous tissues and signalling molecules are involved. A wide range of factors, both endogenous and exogenous, directly or indirectly, modulate the central-appetite-regulatory mechanism, thus impacting food intake. The mechanisms underlying food intake regulation have been studied for several years, and the knowledge on them is ever-expanding. However, still several gaps of knowledge need to be addressed. This Special Issue welcomes research aimed at studying the impact of endogenous or exogenous factors on fish food intake.

Dr. Ayelén Melisa Blanco
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • fish
  • food intake
  • appetite
  • control
  • hormones
  • nutrients
  • environment
  • circadian
  • stress

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 939 KiB  
Article
Tissue-Specific Modulation of Gluco- and Growth-Regulatory Factor Abundance by Nesfatin-1 and Nesfatin-1-like Peptide in Goldfish
by Jithine Jayakumar Rajeswari and Suraj Unniappan
Animals 2023, 13(9), 1437; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13091437 - 22 Apr 2023
Viewed by 1058
Abstract
Nesfatin-1 and nesfatin-1-like peptide (Nlp) are derived from precursors nucleobindin-2 and -1, two calcium and DNA binding proteins, respectively. Both peptides exhibit hormone-like actions in mammals and fish. These functions include insulinotropic effects of nesfatin-1 and Nlp seen in mice and their growth [...] Read more.
Nesfatin-1 and nesfatin-1-like peptide (Nlp) are derived from precursors nucleobindin-2 and -1, two calcium and DNA binding proteins, respectively. Both peptides exhibit hormone-like actions in mammals and fish. These functions include insulinotropic effects of nesfatin-1 and Nlp seen in mice and their growth hormone suppressive actions reported in goldfish. We hypothesized that nesfatin-1 and Nlp are insulin stimulatory (in adipose tissue) and modulate growth hormone and insulin-like growth factors and glucose transporters in goldfish. To test this, goldfish were intraperitoneally injected with either nesfatin-1 or Nlp (50 ng/g BW) or saline alone (control) and sampled at one-hour post-injection (in vivo study). In a separate study, tissue samples were collected and were incubated with either nesfatin-1 or Nlp for one or six hours (in vitro study). Transcript (mRNA) abundance data from the adipose tissue suggest that both nesfatin-1 and Nlp significantly upregulate the abundance of preproinsulin, insulin receptors, and pcsk1 and pcsk2 mRNAs. Meanwhile, the abundance of preproglucagon mRNA in the adipose tissue was significantly downregulated in both in vivo and in vitro studies. These results agree with the insulinotropic and glucagonostatic roles for nesfatin-1 and Nlp reported in rodents. The transcript abundance of growth regulators (igf1, igf2a, and ghra) and glucose transporters (slc2a2 and slc5a1) were upregulated in the muscle, while an opposite effect on these mRNAs was found in the liver of goldfish following nesfatin-1 and Nlp administration. Our results suggest that both nesfatin-1 and Nlp have tissue-specific regulatory roles on growth and glucoregulatory elements in the liver and muscle of goldfish. This agrees with our previous studies that showed a suppressive action of nesfatin-1 on growth hormone in goldfish liver. The results presented here provide strong supportive/confirmatory evidence for tissue-specific insulinotropic and gluco- and growth-regulatory actions of nesfatin-1 and Nlp in goldfish. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Factors Affecting Fish Food Intake)
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12 pages, 2027 KiB  
Article
Feeding Habits of Dentex maroccanus and the Effect of Body Size
by Amalia Mina, Chryssi Mytilineou, Alexandros Kaminas, Anthi Rekleiti, Apostolos Siapatis and Aikaterini Anastasopoulou
Animals 2023, 13(5), 939; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13050939 - 05 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3436
Abstract
The feeding habits of organisms are important elements in their ecological role and are affected by several factors. The present study provides for the first time information on the diet and feeding strategy of Dentex maroccanus (Valenciennes, 1830) and examines the effects of [...] Read more.
The feeding habits of organisms are important elements in their ecological role and are affected by several factors. The present study provides for the first time information on the diet and feeding strategy of Dentex maroccanus (Valenciennes, 1830) and examines the effects of various factors on the species’ feeding activity. Various indices (vacuity index, numerical and weight proportion, frequency of occurrence, alimentary coefficient, index of relative importance, diet breadth and overlap, Shannon–Wiener index, and trophic level) were estimated. The diet of the species consisted of 18 different prey taxa. The most important prey taxon was Decapoda. The study of the feeding strategy showed the narrow width of the species. Body size was found to significantly affect the species’ feeding habits. Polychaeta and Stomatopoda were found only in individuals with size ≥165 mm, Bivalvia mainly in sizes ≤120 mm, and Decapoda in the intermediate sizes. The largest individuals showed the lowest overlap with all other size groups. The trophic level increased from 3.7 in young individuals to 4.0 in larger sizes, indicating the carnivorous character of the species. The results of the present work contribute to a better knowledge of the species’ feeding ecology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Factors Affecting Fish Food Intake)
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20 pages, 5019 KiB  
Article
Daily Rhythms in the IGF-1 System in the Liver of Goldfish and Their Synchronization to Light/Dark Cycle and Feeding Time
by Aitana Alonso-Gómez, Diego Madera, Ángel Luis Alonso-Gómez, Ana Isabel Valenciano and María Jesús Delgado
Animals 2022, 12(23), 3371; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12233371 - 30 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1312
Abstract
The relevance of the insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) system in several physiological processes is well-known in vertebrates, although little information about their temporal organization is available. This work aims to investigate the possible rhythmicity of the different components of the IGF-1 system ( [...] Read more.
The relevance of the insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) system in several physiological processes is well-known in vertebrates, although little information about their temporal organization is available. This work aims to investigate the possible rhythmicity of the different components of the IGF-1 system (igf-1, the igf1ra and igf1rb receptors and the paralogs of its binding proteins IGFBP1 and IGFBP2) in the liver of goldfish. In addition, we also study the influence of two environmental cues, the light/dark cycle and feeding time, as zeitgebers. The hepatic igf-1 expression showed a significant daily rhythm with the acrophase prior to feeding time, which seems to be strongly dependent on both zeitgebers. Only igfbp1a-b and igfbp1b-b paralogs exhibited a robust daily rhythm of expression in the liver that persists in fish held under constant darkness or randomly fed. The hepatic expression of the two receptor subtypes did not show daily rhythms in any of the experimental conditions. Altogether these results point to the igf-1, igfbp1a-b, and igfbp1b-b as clock-controlled genes, supporting their role as putative rhythmic outputs of the hepatic oscillator, and highlight the relevance of mealtime as an external cue for the 24-h rhythmic expression of the IGF-1 system in fish. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Factors Affecting Fish Food Intake)
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16 pages, 1692 KiB  
Article
The Interplay between Central and Peripheral Systems in Feed Intake Regulation in European Seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) Juveniles
by Nicole Martins, Carolina Castro, Aires Oliva-Teles and Helena Peres
Animals 2022, 12(23), 3287; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12233287 - 25 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1371
Abstract
The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of feeding or feed deprivation on the orexigenic and anorexigenic responses at the central (whole brain) and peripheral (anterior and posterior intestine, stomach, and liver) system levels in European seabass. For this purpose, a group [...] Read more.
The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of feeding or feed deprivation on the orexigenic and anorexigenic responses at the central (whole brain) and peripheral (anterior and posterior intestine, stomach, and liver) system levels in European seabass. For this purpose, a group of fish (208 g) was fed a single meal daily for 8 days (fed group) and another group was feed-deprived for 8 days (unfed group). Compared to the fed group, in the whole brain, feed deprivation did not induce changes in npy, agrp1, and cart2 expression, but increased agrp2 and pomc1 expression. In the anterior intestine, feed deprivation increased cck expression, while in the posterior intestine, the npy expression increased and pyyb decreased. In the stomach, the ghr expression decreased regardless of the feeding status. The hepatic lep expression increased in the unfed fish. The present results suggest a feed intake regulation mechanism in European seabass similar to that observed in other teleosts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Factors Affecting Fish Food Intake)
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