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Natural cortisol production is not linked to the sexual fate of European sea bass

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Abstract

In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between cortisol and the determination of sexual fate in the commercially important European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax). To test our hypothesis, we designed two temperature-based experiments (19 ℃, 21 ℃ and 23 ℃, experiment 1; 16 ℃ and 21 ℃, experiment 2) to assess the effects of these thermal treatments on European sea bass sex determination and differentiation. In the fish from the first experiment, we evaluated whether blood cortisol levels and expression of stress key regulatory genes were different between differentiating (149 to 183 dph) males and females. In the second experiment, we assessed whether cortisol accumulated in scales over time during the labile period for sex determination as well as the neuroanatomical localisation of brain cells expressing brain aromatase (cyp19a1b) and corticotropin-releasing factor (crf) differed between males and females undergoing molecular sex differentiation (117 to 124 dph). None of the gathered results allowed to detect differences between males and females regarding cortisol production and regulatory mechanisms. Altogether, our data provide strong physiological, molecular and histochemical evidence, indicating that in vivo cortisol regulation has no major effects on the sex of European sea bass.

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Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article.

Code availability

The code used during the analysis in the current study is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

BSA:

Bovine serum albumin

CCe:

Corpus of the cerebellum

CE:

Cerebellum

CM:

Corpus mammillare

CP:

Central posterior thalamic nucleus

Dc2:

Area dorsalis telencephali, pars centralis subdivision 2

Dld:

Area dorsalis telencephali, pars lateralis dorsal

Dlp:

Lateral posterior part of the dorsal telencephalic area

Dlv2:

Area dorsalis telencephali, pars lateralis ventral, subdivision 2

Dm2, Dm3, Dm4:

Subdivisions 2, 3 and 4 of the medial dorsal telencephalic area

Dph:

Days post-hatching

DWZ:

Deep white zone of the optic tectum

E:

Entopeduncular nucleus

FR:

Fasciculus retroflexus

HCo:

Horizontal commissure

IL:

Inferior lobe of the hypothalamus

LFB:

Lateral forebrain bundle

LT:

Nucleus lateralis thalami

MaOT:

Marginal optic tract

NAPv:

Anterior periventricular nucleus

NAT:

Anterior tuberal nucleus

NC:

Nucleus corticalis

NDLIl:

Lateral part of the diffuse nucleus

NGa:

Nucleus glomerulosus, pars anterioris

NGT:

Tertiary gustatory nucleus

NHd:

Dorsal habenular nucleus

NHv:

Ventral habenular nucleus

NLT:

Lateral tuberal nucleus

NLTd:

Dorsal part of the lateral tuberal nucleus

NLTi:

Inferior part of the lateral tuberal nucleus

NLTm:

Medial part of the lateral tuberal nucleus

NLTv:

Ventral part of the lateral tuberal nucleus

nMLF:

Nucleus of the medial longitudinal fasciculus

NPC:

Central pretectal nucleus

NPGa:

Anterior preglomerular nucleus

NPGc:

Nucleus preglomerulosus commissuralis

NPGI:

Nucleus preglomerulosus lateralis

NPGm:

Medial preglomerular nucleus

NPOav:

Anteroventral part of the parvocelullar preoptic nucleus

NPOpc:

Parvocellular part of paraventricular organ

NPPv:

Nucleus posterioris periventricularis

NPT:

Nucleus posterior tuberis

nPVO:

Nucleus of the paraventricular organ

NRL:

Nucleus of the lateral recess

NRLd:

Dorsal part of the nucleus of the lateral recess

NRLl:

Lateral part of the nucleus of the lateral recces

NRLv:

Ventral part of the nucleus of the lateral recess

NRP:

Nucleus of the posterior recces

NT:

Nucleus taenia

nTPI:

Nucleus of the tractus pretectoisthmicus

OB:

Olfactory bulbs

OC:

Optic chiasm

OpN:

Optic nerve

OT:

Optic tectum

P:

Pituitary

PCo:

Posterior commissure

pgd:

Nucleus periglomerulosus dorsalis

Pin:

Pineal gland

PMgc:

Gigantocellular part of the magnocellular preoptic nucleus

PMmc:

Nucleus preopticus magnocellularis, pars magnocellularis

PMpc:

Nucleus preopticus magnocellularis, pars parvocellularis

POA:

Preoptic area

PPd:

Dorsal periventricular pretectal nucleus

PPv:

Ventral periventricular pretectal nucleus

PSm:

Nucleus pretectalis superficialis, pars magnocellularis

PSp:

Parvocellular superficial pretectal nucleus

PVO:

Paraventricular organ

SV:

Saccus vasculosus

TEG:

Tegmentum

TEL:

Telencephalon

TLa:

Nucleus of the torus lateralis

TLo:

Torus longitudinalis

TPp:

Periventricular nucleus of the posterior tuberculum

TSl:

Torus semicircularis, pars lateralis

TSv:

Torus semicircularis pars ventralis

VAO:

Ventral accessory optic nucleus

Vc:

Central nuclei of the ventral telencephalon

VCe:

Valvula of the cerebellum

VI:

Area ventralis telencephali, pars lateralis

VL:

Ventrolateral thalamic nucleus

VM:

Ventromedial thalamic nucleus

VOT:

Ventral optic tract

Vp:

Area ventralis telencephali, pars postcommissuralis

Vv:

Ventral nuclei of the ventral telencephalon

References

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Acknowledgements

We thank the ‘Palavas Team’ for the help in the different samplings.

Funding

The study was supported by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (3S, Seabass Sex and Stress, grant number 4320175237), the WARMFISH project (Climat AmSud grant number 21-CLIMAT-14) and the French Ministry of Environment under grant CRECHE2020.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MARBEC Univ Montpellier, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, Palavas-Les-Flots, France

    Alexander Goikoetxea, Camille Houdelet, Fréderic Clota, François Allal, Marc Vandeputte & Benjamin Geffroy

  2. Ifremer, IFREMER, Univ Brest, CNRS, IRD, LEMAR, 29280, Plouzané, France

    Arianna Servili & Olivier Mouchel

  3. MARBEC Univ Montpellier, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, Montpellier, France

    Sophie Hermet & Eva Blondeau-Bidet

  4. Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, GABI, Jouy-en-Josas, France

    Fréderic Clota & Marc Vandeputte

  5. Stress Physiology Research Group, Faculty of Sciences, Ghent University, Ostend, Belgium

    Johan Aerts

  6. Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús, INTECH (CONICET-UNSAM), Chascomús, Argentina

    Juan Ignacio Fernandino

Authors
  1. Alexander Goikoetxea
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  2. Arianna Servili
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  3. Camille Houdelet
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  4. Olivier Mouchel
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  5. Sophie Hermet
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  6. Fréderic Clota
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  7. Johan Aerts
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  8. Juan Ignacio Fernandino
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  9. François Allal
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  10. Marc Vandeputte
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  11. Eva Blondeau-Bidet
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  12. Benjamin Geffroy
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Contributions

B.G., F.A. and M.V. designed research; A.G., A.S., C.H., O.M., S.H., F.C., J.A., E.B.B. and B.G. performed research; A.G., A.S., C.H., J.A., E.B.B. and B.G. analysed data; A.G., A.S., C.H., J.I.F. and B.G. wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexander Goikoetxea.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

This project was approved by the Animal Care Committee # 36 COMETHEA under project authorisation numbers APAFIS 24426 (experiment 1) and APAFIS 19676 (experiment 2).

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Goikoetxea, A., Servili, A., Houdelet, C. et al. Natural cortisol production is not linked to the sexual fate of European sea bass. Fish Physiol Biochem 48, 1117–1135 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-022-01104-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-022-01104-1

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