Department of Zoology and Fisheries, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Prague 6, Suchdol, 165 21, Czech Republic.
Department of Zoology and Fisheries, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, Prague 6, Suchdol, 165 21, Czech Republic.
Zoology (Jena). 2022 Feb;150:125982. doi: 10.1016/j.zool.2021.125982. Epub 2021 Nov 20.
Oculocutaneous albinism is the result of a combination of homozygous recessive mutations that block the synthesis of the tyrosine and melatonin hormones. This disability is associated with physiological limitations, e.g., visual impairment expressed by lower visual acuity and movement perception, and eventually leads to acrophobia and/or photophobia, suggesting a potentially higher stress level associated with the behavioral responses of individuals with albinism to external stimuli compared to their pigmented conspecifics. However, in fish, differences in behavioral and/or physiological responses and stress levels between these phenotypes have been poorly documented. While acoustic perception of albino individuals is well known, the use of olfactory sensors for social communication, e.g., for the preference for familiar conspecifics, remains poorly understood. We performed two laboratory experiments with albino and pigmented European catfish Silurus glanis to observe: i) their behavioral and physiological responses to short-term stress induced by a combination of air exposure and novel environmental stressors and ii) their ability to use odor keys to recognize of familiar conspecifics and the influence of lateralization on this preference. In response to stress stimuli, albino fish showed higher movement activities and ventilatory frequencies and more often changed their swimming directions compared to their pigmented conspecifics. Blood plasma analysis showed significantly higher values of stress-, deprivation-, and emotional arousal-associated substances, e.g., glucose and lactate, as well as of substances released during intensive muscle activity of hyperventilation and tissue hypoxia, e.g., hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, erythrocytes, and neutrophil granulocytes. A preference test between environments with and without scented water showed the preference by both albino and pigmented catfish for environments with scent of familiar conspecifics, and both groups of fish displayed left-side lateralization associated with the observation of conspecifics and group coordination. The results tended to show higher physiological and behavioral responses of albinos to stress stimuli compared to the responses of their pigmented conspecifics, but the uses of olfactory sensors and lateralization were not differentiated between the two groups.
眼皮肤白化病是由同型隐性突变组合导致的，这些突变阻断了酪氨酸和褪黑素激素的合成。这种残疾与生理限制有关，例如，较低的视力和运动感知表现出的视力障碍，最终导致恐高症和/或畏光症，这表明白化病患者对外界刺激的行为反应可能比其有色素的同类更有潜在的更高的应激水平。然而，在鱼类中，这些表型之间的行为和/或生理反应和应激水平的差异记录甚少。虽然白化个体的声音感知是众所周知的，但嗅觉传感器在社会交流中的应用，例如对熟悉同类的偏好，仍知之甚少。我们用白化和有色素的欧洲鲶鱼 Silurus glanis 进行了两项实验室实验，以观察：i）它们对空气暴露和新环境压力源组合引起的短期压力的行为和生理反应，和 ii）它们识别熟悉同类的嗅觉线索的能力，以及偏侧性对这种偏好的影响。在应激刺激下，白化鱼的游动活动和呼吸频率较高，且更频繁地改变游动方向，与有色素的同类相比。血浆分析显示，应激、剥夺和情绪唤醒相关物质，如葡萄糖和乳酸，以及在过度通气和组织缺氧时释放的物质，如血红蛋白、平均红细胞血红蛋白、红细胞和中性粒细胞的含量显著升高。在有和没有香味水的环境之间的偏好测试中，白化和有色素的鲶鱼都表现出对有熟悉同类气味的环境的偏好，两组鱼都表现出与观察同类和群体协调相关的左侧偏侧化。结果倾向于表明白化鱼对应激刺激的生理和行为反应高于其有色素的同类，但嗅觉传感器和偏侧性的使用在两组之间没有差异。
