Role of cortisol in the physiological response to toxicants in fish

当生物体暴露于潜在的有害刺激时，就会引起生理应激反应。皮质醇是鱼类组织水平反应的关键激素效应物。许多物种和不同的应激源（包括毒物）都有应激反应的特征，但关键的基本问题仍然存在：在暴露于毒物时，应激反应对生物体是有益的还是有害的？对毒物的脆弱性是否与反应的稳健性有关？本研究的目的是阐明皮质醇在鱼类对毒物的生理反应中的作用，并验证皮质醇在急性潜在致命毒物暴露下有有益作用，但在亚致命慢性暴露下是有害的，产生显著的代谢成本。

The physiological stress response is elicited when organisms are exposed to potentially harmful stimuli. Cortisol is a key hormonal effector of the response at tissue level in fish. The stress response has been characterized for many species and diverse stressors, including toxicants, yet key fundamental questions remain: is the stress response beneficial or detrimental to the organism during exposure to toxicants; is vulnerability to toxicants related to robustness of the response? The goal of the proposed research is to elucidate the role of cortisol in the physiological response to toxicants in fish and test the hypothesis that cortisol has beneficial effects under acute potentially lethal toxicant exposures, but is detrimental, engendering significant metabolic costs, under sublethal chronic exposures.