Effect of Cortisol on Aquaporin Expression in the Esophagus of the European Eel, Anguilla anguilla

• Published in: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
• Main Authors: MARTINEZ, ANNE‐SOPHIE, WILSON, GILLIAN, PHILLIPS, CLAIRE, CUTLER, CHRISTOPHER, HAZON, NEIL, CRAMB, GORDON
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2005
• Subjects: History and Philosophy of Science; General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; General Neuroscience; Anguilla anguilla
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1196/annals.1327.072; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1196%2Fannals.1327.072; https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1196/annals.1327.072

A bstract : Long‐term cortisol infusion into freshwater (FW)‐adapted eels induced a significant increase in aquaporin‐1 (AQP1) mRNA expression within the esophageal epithelium of migratory “silver” eels, but not in nonmigratory, immature “yellow” eels. Cortisol treatment had no significant effect on the mRNA abundance of a second aquaporin‐1 isoform, termed AQP1dup, which exhibited a highly variable expression profile among individual members of all fish groups. These results suggest that cortisol, at plasma concentrations similar to that found during FW/seawater (SW) acclimation, induces upregulation in AQP1 expression and thus increases esophageal water permeability during the migration of eels to the SW environment.