Prolactin and Osmoregulation in Teleost Fishes
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Date
1976-07
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Abstract
Teleosts as a group live in a wide range of aquatic media and maintain their osmotic pressure and electrolyte concentration at l evels largely independent of the composition of their environment. In order to maintain hydromineral balance, teleosts are equipped with specialized ion and water-transporting epithelia situated in the gills, skin, kidney, intestine, and urinary bladder. In Euryha line fishes, the function of these osmoregulatory organs must change according to environmental demands.
Comparative physiologists have studied the endocrine control of osmoregulation in fishes for several decades. One of the findings from a large body of results is the demonstrated effect of prolactin on electrolyte and water metabolism. Interest in prolactin as an osmoregularory hormone in fishes started when Burden (1956) reported the failure of hypophysectomized killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus to survive in freshwater. In further work, Pickford and Phillips (1959) indicate d that only prolactin is effective in promoting the freshwater survival of hypophysectomized Killfish. Since these early investigations, mammalian prolactin has been shown to restore freshwater survival in several other hypophysectomized teleosts: Poecilia latipinna (Ball and Olivereau, 1964), Xiphophorus maculatus (Schreibman and Kallman, 1960), Tilapia mossambica (Dharmamba et.al., 1967).
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36 pages
Keywords
Teleost, Prolactin, Osmoregulation