Erika M. Plisetskaya can be contacted at: School of Fisheries HF-15,
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA (Duan and Plisetskaya, 1993.) Her
email address is: [email protected] (University of Washington, 1996.)
E. M. Plisetskaya, with C. Duan, had wished to study the effects of starvation on insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I) levels in salmonids (Duan and Plisetskaya, 1993.) They fed some coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and starved others, and later fed the starved fish. Over time, samples of the salmon were examined for size, weight, and growth hormone (GH), insulin, glycogen, and IGF-I mRNA levels.
The experimenters found that the size of the starved fish was much lower than that of the fed fish, and that feeding the starved fish increased their size. The liver glycogen levels decreased with time of starvation, and increased with feeding of the starved fish. Blood glucose and plasma insulin levels were similar in both groups. Plasma GH levels increased with time of starvation, and decreased with refeeding. IGF-I mRNA levels in the liver decreased with time of starvation, although levels in other tissues did not change significantly.
The experimenters concluded that starvation reduces IGF-I mRNA in the liver, which results in retarded growth of the salmon. They suggested that a decrease in GH receptors causes resistance to GH in the liver, which reduces IGF-I synthesis, which retards growth. However, further experiments are needed to examine this hypothesis.
REFERENCES
Duan, C. and E. M. Plisetskaya, 1993. Nutritional regulation of insulin-like growth factor-I mRNA expression in salmon tissues. Journal of Endocrinology, 139: 243-252.
University of Washington, 1996. UW School of Fisheries Faculty. http://www.fish.washington.edu/people/faculty.html. [Web Site]
February 26, 1998
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