The endocrine regulation of feeding in fish

在所有脊椎动物中，食物摄入调节涉及由大脑和外周组织产生的复杂因素网络，并影响大脑摄食中心。我们目前对鱼类摄食调节的了解有限，并且主要基于少数物种。然而，鱼类是一个多样化的群体，其摄食习惯差异很大，建立一个阐明鱼类摄食调节的一般模型需要广泛的物种信息。在过去的几年里，我的研究已经建立了一个全面的和互动的摄食控制模型，通过检查几种鱼类的食欲相关激素。我正在进行的研究的目标是确定调节鱼类食欲和食物摄入的分子和生理机制，并研究它们如何受到营养状况，环境线索和生殖事件的调节。迄今为止，我的研究提供了令人信服的新证据表明，主要种间差异发生在这些因素的结构，生产地点和作用机制。我的计划是独一无二的，因为它是世界上少数几个使用综合（从整个动物到基因）比较方法来研究淡水鱼和海水鱼喂养的内分泌调节的项目之一。 这项研究的新颖之处在于，它将使我们能够建立鱼类和脊椎动物摄食的内分泌调节及其对生长和繁殖的影响的一般模型。这些研究的结果将为管理和提高鱼类的摄食和生长提供新的方法。 它还将使我们能够更好地了解不同的鱼类物种如何应对环境压力，这是管理鱼类水产养殖的先决条件。 我们的研究结果将是非常有益的，并可能对当地，国家和跨国渔业和水产养殖业产生影响。此外，鉴于鱼类和哺乳动物之间的食欲相关肽的结构和功能的相似性，我们的研究结果可以帮助建立脊椎动物摄食调节的基本模型，并为哺乳动物中涉及能量稳态失调的疾病的机制带来新的见解。

In all vertebrates, food intake regulation involves intricate networks of factors that are produced by both brain and peripheral tissues and affect brain feeding centers. Our current understanding of the regulation of feeding in fish is limited and based primarily on few species. Fish, however, are a diverse group that display large variations in feeding habits and the establishment of a general model elucidating feeding regulation in fish requires information on a wide range of species. In the past years, my research has established a comprehensive and interactive model of feeding control in fish by examining appetite related hormones in several fish. The goal of my ongoing research is to identify the molecules and physiological mechanisms regulating appetite and food intake in fish, and to examine how they are modulated by nutritional status, environmental cues and reproductive events. My studies to date have provided compelling new evidence that major interspecific differences occur in the structure, sites of production and mechanisms of action of these factors. My program is unique in that it is one of the few worldwide to use an integrative (from whole animal to genes) comparative approach to examine the endocrine regulation of feeding in both freshwater and marine fish. This research is novel in that it will allow us to establish a general model of the endocrine regulation of feeding in fish and vertebrates and its impact on growth and reproduction. The results of these studies will provide new approaches to manage and enhance feeding and growth in fish. It will also allow us to better understand how different fish species deal with environmental stressors, a prerequisite for managing fish aquaculture. Our results will be highly beneficial to, and are likely to have impact on the local, national, and multi-national fishing and aquacultures industries. Also, given the similarities in the structure and function of appetite-related peptides between fish and mammals, our results could help build a fundamental model for feeding regulation in vertebrates and bring new insights into the mechanisms that rule diseases involving dysregulation of energy homeostasis in mammals.