Post-spawning feed deprivation does not affect oogenesis while promotes spermatogenesis in the neotropical cichlid fish Cichlasoma dimerus

DANIELA PEREZ-SIRKIN; MARÍA PAULA DI YORIO; TOMAS H. DELGADIN; RENATO HONJI; RENATA GUIMARAES MOREIRA; GUSTAVO M. SOMOZA; PAULA G. VISSIO

FISH PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2021 vol. 47 p. 1527 - 1540

0920-1742

Many teleost fishes can spend through long feed-deprivation periods, either due to an eventuallack of food or because of their behavior during reproduction and/or parental care. In thiswork, the effects of total food restriction on the reproductive axis of both females and malesof the neotropical cichlid fish Cichlasoma dimerus were studied. Specifically, different pairswere isolated after having a spawning event and were feed-deprived or daily fed for threeweeks. After that period, gonadal histology, messenger levels of genes related to reproduction(gnrh1, gonadotropins, and igf1) and 11-ketotestosterone plasma levels were evaluated inboth groups. Food restriction did not affect the reproductive axis in females since follicularmaturation and gene expression showed no differences with respect to controls. However, inmales, food restriction showed a stimulatory effect on the reproductive axis, reflected in agreater number of spermatozoa in their seminiferous lobes and spermatic ducts, and in anincrease in follicle stimulating hormone messenger expression. Despite the negative effectreported for the majority species, C. dimerus seems to redirect their energy reserves towardsgonadal development when faced to a feed deprivation period.