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Partner 12B Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique

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University and Research group information

The Research Unit for Fish Physiology, Biodiversity and Environment (SCRIBE) gathers fundamental and applied research conducted in the fields of fish farming (i.e. reproduction, growth, flesh quality, stress and adaptation), the management of animal biodiversity (fish, birds, rodents) and the effects of pollutants on aquatic ecosystems (i.e. biomarkers, impacts of xenobiotics on fish physiology). This unit made up of 4 groups, ‘Growth and flesh quality’, ‘Fish sexuality and reproduction’, Physiology of Stress and Adaptation in fish’, Management of invasive populations’.  

The group on Physiology of Stress and Adaptation in Fish is active in CASCADE with the following work.

* Hydromineral metabolism (osmoregulation) and stress: two major physiological functions tightly linked in fish. Steroid hormones secreted by interrenal gland (corticosteroid hormones) play a major role in controlling these physiological mechanisms. Until recently, it was assumed in fish that cortisol and its hormonal receptor (glucocorticoid receptor or GR) were the only endocrine regulators of stress function and osmoregulation. Recently, our group showed that another corticosteroid receptor exist in fish (mineralocorticoid rceceptor or MR) and that its physiological ligand could be deoxycorticosterone (DOC). Thus, in fish, two endocrine systems seem to be involved in regulation of stress and hydromineral balance. Our group aims to characterize these endocrine systems and their involvement in osmoregulation and stress physiology. To carry out this work, three major research areas are developed:

- Molecular and cellular characterization of ion exchanges at the level of gill epithelium.

- Functional genomic approaches to study stress responses in fish.

- Molecular characterization of GR and MR in fish.  

* Endocrine disruptors and corticosteroid receptors in fish: As in mammals, fish GR and MR signal transduction can be disrupted in presence of xenobiotics. Pathophysiological consequences of such disruption are mostly unknown and understanding their mode of actions is an important goal of our group. Fish is a good animal model for such study as he is living in water and thus directly exposed to dissolved pollutants. Moreover, this is a preference target for alimentary chain contamination.

Contribution to CASCADE

Within CASCADE network, our group participate to (1) the development of new detection methods for endocrine disruptors acting on GR/MR receptor family (2) characterization of pathophysiological effects in fish of these endocrine disruptors. Our approaches include both molecular studies of the interactions between pollutants and GR/MR and in vitro studies on the physiological effects of these components and osmoregulatory target tissues.