Distress Regulates Different Pathways In The Brain Of Common Carp: A Preliminary Study

Simple SummaryThe aquaculture sector provides for nearly half of the world's seafood consumption, thanks to its large expansion over the last 30 years. Despite this intense growth, clear guidelines for responsible practices and animal wellbeing are lacking. Gene expression studies are a fundamental tool for understanding welfare, but stress-markers in aquaculture fish species are poorly studied. In addition, the biostatistical analysis of gene expression data is not trivial, and this study applies different statistical methods in order to evaluate potential differences in the gene expression levels between control fish and fish acutely stressed by exposure to air.In this study, a stress trial was conducted with common carp, one of the most important species in aquaculture worldwide, to identify relevant gene regulation pathways in different areas of the brain. Acute distress due to exposure to air significantly activated the expression of the immediate early gene c-fos in the telencephalon. In addition, evidence for regulation of the two corticotropin-releasing factor (crf) genes in relation to their binding protein (corticotropin-releasing hormone-binding protein, crh-bp) is presented in this preliminary study. Inferences on the effects of due to exposure to air were obtained by using point estimation, which allows the prediction of a single value. This constitutes the best description to date of the previously generally unknown effects of stress in different brain regions in carp. Furthermore, principal component analyses were performed to reveal possible regulation patterns in the different regions of the fish brain. In conclusion, these preliminary studies on gene regulation in the carp brain that has been influenced by exposure to a stressor reveal that a number of genes may be successfully used as markers for exposure to unfavourable conditions.