Juveniles of gilthead sea bream were fed over the course of 10 weeks with plant protein-based diets with fish oil (FO) or vegetable oils (66VO) at the 66% of replacement. At the end of the feeding trial, no differences in growth performance were found between groups, and fish with an average body weight of 65-70 g were subjected to crowding stress by confinement exposure at 90-100 kg/m3. Control fish (8-9 kg/m3) remained undisturbed and unfed over the course of the 72 h stress exposure. Stressed and control fish were sampled at 3 h, 24 h and 72 h for liver transcriptomic analysis (7 fish per nutritional and stress condition), using a candidate gene approach with a wide range of metabolic and oxidative stress biomarkers. The nutritional background affected the gene expression pattern with a down-regulated mRNA expression of stress oxidative markers at 3 h and 24 h in the 66VO stressed fish that was followed by an enhanced oxidative capacity and glutathione recycling. This gene expression pattern supports different allostatic equilibrium after stress exposure, which agrees with a lower oxidative risk and fatty acid unsaturation degree of fish fed vegetable oils.

Ponencia presentada en el XVIII Congreso Nacional de Acuicultura celebrado en Barcelona del 21 al 24 de noviembre de 2011

Esta investigación ha sido financiada por los proyectos AQUAGENOMICS (CDS 2007-00002) y PROMETEO 2010/06.

Peer Reviewed