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
• Other Authors: Université de Caen Normandie (UNICAEN), Normandie Université (NU), University of St Andrews Scotland
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2005
• Subjects: seawater (SW) acclimation; esophagus; European eel; aquaporin; cortisol; [SDV.BA.ZV]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology/Vertebrate Zoology; [SDV.BBM.GTP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biochemistry; Molecular Biology/Genomics [q-bio.GN]; Anguilla anguilla
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02550684; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02550684/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02550684/file/Martinez%20et%20al%202005b.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1327.072

International audience 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.