Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-pkt8n Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-14T01:18:31.303Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Vitamin A compounds and lipids in the blood of the Cod Gadus morhua from the Arctic, in relation to gonadal maturation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

P. A. Plack  and
P. M. J. Woodhead
P. A. Plack
Affiliation:
Unit for Biochemical Research bearing on Fisheries' Problems2, National Institute for Research in Dairying, Shinfield, Reading
P. M. J. Woodhead
Affiliation:
Fisheries Laboratory, Lowestoft
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Cod (Gadus morhua L.) from the Arcto-Norwegian stock that spawns off northern Norway were caught at various times during the course of their gonadal maturation cycle, and plasma samples were collected for the determination of vitamin A compounds and lipids.

The main changes found concerned vitamin A aldehyde, which increased from a resting level of2μg/100 ml. plasma for adult females caught in September to 10 μ/100 ml. in ripe females caught in January-March approaching their spawning grounds; by contrast little change was observed in the males. In the fish of both sexes caught in September, just prior to the onset of maturation, dehydroretinal formed about 38 % of the total aldehyde, but in the plasma of ripe females the proportion was only 16 %. In both sexes there was a fairly steady decline in the levels of vitamin A esters and alcohol in the plasma during the winter. Similarly, the concentration of plasma lipids fell during the winter in the male cod, but in the adult females, during the period of ovarian maturation, the concentration of lipids increased and was maintained at about 0·5 g/100 ml. higher than in the males; in spent fish the concentration of lipids fell to the same low levels in both sexes.

It was considered that the changes in vitamin A aldehyde, and also of blood lipid, in the females were directly linked with sexual maturation, these compounds being transported to the developing eggs in the ovary. On the other hand, the general decline of vitamin A esters and alcohol in both sexes, and of lipids in the males, was probably due to the obligatory winter starvation which occurs in this stock.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , October 1966 , pp. 547 - 559
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1966

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bailey, R. E. 1957. The effect of estradiol on serum calcium, phosphorus and protein of goldfish. J. exp. Zool., Vol. 136, pp. 455–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, D. M. 1959. The scientific name of the cod. J. Cons. perm. int. Explor. Mer, Vol. 25, pp. 50–2.Google Scholar
Fleming, W. R.Stanley, J. G. & Meier, A. H. 1964. Seasonal effects of external calcium, estradiol and ACTH on the serum calcium and sodium levels of Fundulus kansae. Gen & Compar. Endocr., Vol. 4, pp. 61–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garrod, D. J.& Newell, B. S. 1958. Ring formation in Tilapia esculenta. Nature, Lond., Vol. 181, pp. 1411–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HoChung-Wai, F. Chung-Wai, F. & Vanstone, W. E. 1961. Effect of estradiol monobenzoate on some serum constituents of maturing sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerkd). J. Fish. Res. Bd Can., Vol. 18, pp. 859&64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kon, S. K.McGillivray, & Thompson, S. Y. 1955. Metabolism of carotene and vitamin A given by mouth or vein in oily solution or aqueous dispersion to calves, rabbits and rats. Br. J. Nutr., Vol. 9, pp. 244–67.Google Scholar
Maslov, N. A. 1944. The bottom fishes of the Barents Sea and their fisheries. Trudy polyar. nauchno-issled. Inst. morsk. ryb. Khoz. Okeanogr., Vol. 8, pp. 3–186. (In Russian).Google Scholar
Plack, P. A. (1956). Maleic anhydride in the study of naturally occurring isomers of vitamin A. Biochem. J., Vol. 64, pp. 56–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plack, P. A. 1960. Vitamin A1 aldehyde in hen's eggs. Nature, Lond., Vol. 186, pp. 234–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Plack, P. A. & Kon, S. K. 1961. A comparative survey of the distribution of vitamin A aldehyde in eggs. Biochem. J. Vol. 81, pp. 561–70.Google Scholar
Plack, P. A.Kon, S. K. & Thompson, S. Y. 1959. Vitamin A1 aldehyde in the eggs of the herring (Clupea harengus L.) and other marine teleosts. Biochem. J., Vol. 71, pp. 467ndash;76.Google Scholar
Plack, P. A.Miller, W. S. & Ward, C. M. 1966. Retinal in the blood and liver of the fowl in relation to sex and maturity. Biochem. J., Vol. 99, pp. 71–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Plack, P. A.Woodhead, A. D. & Woodhead, P. M. J. 1961. Vitamin A compounds in the ovaries of the cod, Gadus morhua L., from the Arctic. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K., Vol. 41, pp. 617ndash;30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, S. Y.Ganguly, J. & Kon, S. K. 1949. The conversion of β-carotene to vitamin A in the intestine. Br. J. Nutr., Vol. 3, pp. 50–78.Google Scholar
Trout, G. C. 1957. The Bear Island cod: migrations and movements.Fishery Invest., Lond., Ser. 2, Vol. 21, No. 651 pp.Google Scholar
Urist, M. R. & Schjeide, A. R. 1961. The partition of calcium and protein in the blood of oviparous vertebrates during estrus. J. gen. Physiol., Vol. 44, pp. 743–56.Google Scholar
Woodhead, P. M. J. 1967. Seasonal changes in the calcium content of the blood of the cod, Gadus morhua L., from the Arctic. (In preparation.)Google Scholar