Does Leptin Play a Role in Early Sexual Maturation in Male Atlantic Salmon ( Salmo salar L.)?

摘要

Leptin has been established as a signal conveying theenergy status of an individual to the reproductive axisaffecting puberty onset and fertility in mammals, but thepossible role of leptin in reproduction in teleost fishremains largely unexplored. In Atlantic salmon, as inmost teleost fish, leptin is mainly synthesized by theliver. The lack of correlation between adiposity storesand leptin plasma levels, suggests that leptin might havea different function in teleost fish during the attainmentof reproductive function than that seen in mammalswhere plasma leptin levels are directly proportional tothe amount of adipose tissue. In this study weinvestigated the impact of food restriction on theprevalence of early maturing males and the pattern ofhepatic leptin gene expression, brain leptin receptor geneexpression and circulating plasma levels during earlysexual maturation in Atlantic salmon parr.