Metabolic Adjustments to Short-Term Diurnal Temperature Fluctuation in the Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

In rainbow trout, warmer temperatures increase metabolic rate, which can be energetically stressful. Diel fluctuations in water temperatures are common in rivers, raising the question of whether fish experience metabolic preconditioning with repeated heat stress. In this study, rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss Walbaum, 1792) were subjected to three temperature treatments consisting of either a constant exposure to 16 degrees C, a single exposure to 24 degrees C, or three cycles between 16 degrees and 24 degrees C. Metabolic responses were investigated, including patterns of regulation of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase and its substrates, key metabolic enzymes, and several relevant-metabolites. In liver and, to a lesser extent, in heart, patterns of signal transduction suggest an increasingly anabolic phenotype with successive heat cycles. Inhibition of Raptor in the heart suggests lowered gross protein synthesis after multiple heat cycles. Fish also showed recovery of glycogen stores and lipid synthesis after multiple thermal cycles, while they maintained baseline plasma glucose levels. The animals showed no evidence of hypoxemia, and our results suggest rainbow trout exposed to repeated thermal cycles were not at risk of metabolic substrate depletion. Collectively, our data indicate that, when exposed to fluctuating but noncritical thermal cycles, rainbow trout may adopt a new metabolic phenotype to sequester readily accessible metabolic substrates in the liver in preparation for more severe or sustained thermal exposures.