Anadromous Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) migrate to seawater every summer for feeding and spend the rest of the year overwintering in fresh water. We investigated whether annual seawater migration is preceded by changes in hyposmoregulatory capacity, intermediary metabolism, and the plasma levels of hormones known to play a role in salmonid seawater preadaptation (smoltification). Wild, anadromous Arctic char were sampled in their overwintering lake in April and May and during the period of downstream migration in June. Our results demonstrate a fourfold seasonal increase in gill Na+/K+ ATPase activity, with maximum levels in descending migrants that also displayed prime hyposmoregulatory capacity. Hepatosomatic index and activities of key liver enzymes also increased during spring, indicating a general increase in liver metabolic capacity. These changes were accompanied by increased plasma cortisol and thyroxine levels, decreased plasma growth hormone levels, and unchanged plasma levels of insulin-like growth factor-I and 3,5,3′-triiodothyronine. Our results indicate that wild, anadromous Arctic char resmoltify every spring, and this involves a shift from an energy-conserving overwintering state to a state where they become osmotically and metabolically prepared for their annual feeding migration to seawater.
In a series of environmentally realistic laboratory experiments, toxicokinetics and effects of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were studied in the Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus). Winter fasting and emaciation, which are common among Arctic charr living in high latitudes, resulted in a redistribution of the lipophilic PCBs from lipid-storing tissue such as the muscle, to vital organs that must be considered sensitive toward PCB (liver and brain). This redistribution was accompanied by a significant potentiation of the hepatic cytochrome P-450 (CYP) 1A biomarker response, from low activities in October (within those measured in uncontaminated charr) to a high, probably maximum, induction in May. Performance studies demonstrated a clear effect of environmentally realistic PCB levels on endocrine mechanisms, immune function, and seawater preadaptation (smoltification) in charr that had been feed deprived for several months after contamination with Aroclor 1254, whereas a high PCB dose exerted only minor, if any, effects in charr that had been fed after contamination. These results demonstrate that emaciation results in decreased dose-response relationships in fish, and indicate that arctic animals undergoing seasonal cycles of "fattening" and emaciation may be extra sensitive toward persistent, lipophilic organochlorines. Pilot studies on Arctic charr from Bjørnøya Island revealed marked CYP1A biomarker responses and an upregulation of genes involved in cellular homeostatic mechanisms in charr from Lake Ellasjøen (high PCB levels).
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