Metabolism of Circulating Hormones by the Fish Gill

该实验室之前的研究表明，鱼鳃和哺乳动物的肺一样，具有独特的能力，可以通过特定的激活和失活过程来调节血液中各种激素的浓度。所有由鱼心脏泵出的血液都必须首先通过鳃，然后才能分配到身体的其他部位。因此，鳃处于一个理想的位置，可以有效地作为一个生物血液过滤器，事实上，PI已经表明，鳃的激素代谢效率可能超过90%。本研究将探讨鳃代谢几种重要的血压调节激素、儿茶酚胺、血管紧张素和房利钠肽的机制。初步研究还表明，这些相同的机制可能涉及有毒物质的降解，这些研究将继续进行。这个项目很重要，原因如下：1。从这些研究中获得的信息将进一步加深我们对低等脊椎动物内分泌控制系统的理解。2. 由于鳃和肺之间的相似性，本工作将提供深入了解肺作为代谢器官的进化和肺代谢机制。这些研究也说明了鳃在生物医学研究中作为一种非哺乳动物模型的替代潜力。3. 评价鳃作为一个器官的解毒还没有严格审查。我们的初步工作表明，鳃也可能是环境研究的重要工具。

Previous research in this laboratory has shown that the fish gill, like the mammalian lung, has the unique ability to regulate the concentration of a variety of hormones in blood through specific activation and inactivation processes. All blood pumped by the fish heart must first pass through the gills before it is distributed to the rest of the body. Thus the gill is in an ideal location to effectively serve as a biological blood filter, and indeed, the PI has shown that the efficiency of hormone metabolism by the gill may exceed 90%. The proposed research will examine the mechanisms through which the gill metabolizes several important blood pressure regulating hormones, catecholamines, angiotensin and atrial natriuretic peptide. Preliminary studies have also shown that these same mechanisms may be involved in degradation of toxic substances and these studies will be continued. This project is significant for several reasons: 1. Information derived from these studies will further our understanding of endocrine control systems in lower vertebrates. 2. Due to the similarity between gills and lungs the present work will provide insight into the evolution of the lung as a metabolic organ and the mechanisms of pulmonary metabolism. These studies also illustrate the potential of the gill as an alternative, non-mammalian model in biomedical research. 3. Evaluation of the gill as an organ for detoxification has not been critically examined. Our preliminary work indicates that the gill may also be an important tool in environmental studies.