EARLY NUTRITIONAL PROGRAMMING IN FISH: TAILORING THE METABOLIC USE OF DIETARY GLUCOSE

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Tolerance of zebrafish embryos to supra-physiologic yolk levels of glucose

Publication . Rocha, F.; Dias, J.; Engrola, S.; Gavaia, Paulo J.; Dinis, Maria Teresa; Panserat, S.

Once spawned and fertilized the oviparous fish eggs operate as closed systems; only respiratory gases, heat and negligible amounts of solutes and water are exchanged freely, as a result of an extremely low permeability of the egg surface membranes. Currently, the opportunities to exert a nutritional stimulus during a stage of high metabolic plasticity, such as fish embryogenesis, are restricted to maternal transfer and the onset of exogenous feeding.

2012Conference object

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High-glucose feeding of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) larvae: effects on molecular and metabolic pathways

Publication . Rocha, Filipa; Dias, Jorge; Geurden, Inge; Dinis, Maria Teresa; Panserat, Stephane; Engrola, S.

Nutritional programming has begun to arouse interest as a novel tool to alter specific metabolic pathways or functions in farmed animals. The aim of the present study was to explore the potential of early glucose stimuli to induce changes in nutrient metabolism of gilthead seabream. Nutritional conditioning was performed by delivering glucose-rich feed at three distinct recurrent periods of larval feeding regime: during first-feeding with rotifers (3 days after hatching, DAH) and mid-feeding with Artemia metanauplii (20DAH) and the beginning of inert diet feeding (30DAH), called the Recurrent treatment (REC). As opposed, the control treatment (CTRL) did not experience any glucose stimuli. At post-larval stage (from 50 to 60DAH), both treatments were challenged with a high-carbohydrate diet (50%). The immediate response to the early stimuli was assessed through gene expression of metabolic markers and by nutrient metabolism using [C-14] tracers. Each dietary stimulus induced metabolic changes on REC larvae, shown by altered expression of some genes, including those involved in glycolysis, and by a different pattern of glucose utilization. However, none of the molecular adaptations (except G6PDH gene) were persistent in the viscera and muscle of challenged post-larvae from REC group. In contrast, the glucose metabolism of challenged REC post-larvae revealed a shift towards a higher catabolism and lower glucose retention in tissues, compared to the CTRL group, suggesting an improvement of glucose oxidation pathways. In addition, the REC group showed a higher bio-conversion of glucose into lipids, indicating enhanced hepatic lipogenesis. The early stimuli did not affect the relative retention or use of amino acids or the growth and survival of challenged fish, up to 60DAH. In summary, although not substantiated at a molecular level, our data reveal that a recurrent high-glucose stimulus during larval stages affects the short-term modulation of pathways for glucose utilization in gilthead seabream. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

2016-01Journal article

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Dietary glucose stimulus at larval stage modifies the carbohydrate metabolic pathway in gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) juveniles: An in vivo approach using C-14-starch

Publication . Rocha, Filipa; Dias, Jorge; Geurden, Inge; Dinis, Maria Teresa; Panserat, Stephane; Engrola, S.

The concept of nutritional programming was investigated in order to enhance the use of dietary carbohydrates in gilthead seabream juveniles. We assessed the long-term effects of high-glucose stimuli, exerted at the larval stage, on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility and metabolic utilization and gene expression of seabream juveniles, challenged with a high-carbohydrate intake. During early development, a group of larvae (control, CTRL) were kept under a rich-protein-lipid feeding regime whereas another group (GLU) was subjected to high-glucose stimuli, delivered intermittently over time. At juvenile stage, triplicate groups (IBW: 2.5 g) from each fish nutritional background were fed a high-protein (59.4%) low-carbohydrate (2.0%) diet before being subjected to a low-protein (43.0%) high-carbohydrate (33.0%) dietary challenge for 36-days. Fish from both treatments increased by 8-fold their initial body weight, but neither growth rate, feed intake, feed and protein efficiency, nutrient retention (except lipids) nor whole-body composition were affected (P (>) 0.05) by fish early nutritional history. Nutrient digestibility was also similar among both groups. The metabolic fate of C-14-starch and C-14-amino acids tracers was estimated; GLU juveniles showed higher absorption of starch-derived glucose in the gut, suggesting an enhanced digestion of carbohydrates, while amino acid use was not affected. Moreover, glucose was less used for de novo synthesis of hepatic proteins and muscle glycogen from GLU fish (P < 0.05). Our metabolic data suggests that the early glucose stimuli may alter carbohydrate utilization in seabream juveniles. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

2016-07Journal article

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Programming the metabolic gene expression in zebrafish juveniles (Danio rerio) by supra-physiological glucose level during embryogenesis

Publication . Rocha, F.; Dias, J.; Engrola, S.; Gavaia, Paulo J.; Geurden, Inge; Dinis, Maria Teresa; Panserat, S.

Using zebrafish as a model organism, assess the effect of high glucose levels during early embryonic stages as a lifelong moderator of metabolic pathways.

2013Journal article

Open access