Anatomical and Histological Characteristics of the Intestine of the Topmouth Culter (Culter alburnus)

Genetic Diversity Evaluation and Conservation of Topmouth Culter (Culter alburnus) Germplasm in Five River Basins in China

To study the genetic diversity of Culter alburnus (C. alburnus) populations, we analyzed the genetic diversity of five C. alburnus populations from Songhua Lake (SH), Huaihe River (HH), Changjiang River (CJ), Taihu Lake (TH), and Gehu Lake (GH) based on mitochondrial COI gene sequences. The results showed that the average contents of bases T, C, A, and G in the 526 bp COI gene sequence were 25.3%, 18.1%, 28.1%, and 28.6%, respectively, which showed AT bias. A total of 115 polymorphic sites were detected in the five populations, and 11 haplotypes (Hap) were defined. The nucleotide diversity (P_i) of the five populations ranged from 0.00053 to 0.01834, and the haplotype diversity (H_d) ranged from 0.280 to 0.746, with the highest genetic diversity in the TH population, followed by the SH population, with lower genetic diversity in the HH, CJ and GH populations. The analysis of the fixation index (Fst) and the genetic distance between populations showed that there was significant genetic differentiation between the SH population and the other populations, and the genetic distances between all of them were far; the genetic diversity within populations was higher than that between populations. Neutral tests, mismatch distributions, and Bayesian skyline plot (BSP) analyses showed that the C. alburnus populations have not experienced population expansion and are relatively stable in historical dynamics.

Morphology of the digestive system in carnivorous freshwater dourado Salminus brasiliensis

The digestive system of teleost shows remarkable functional and morphological diversity. In this study, the digestive tract and accessory organs of dourado Salminus brasiliensis are characterized using anatomical, histological, histochemical and immunohistochemical analyses. The existence of taste buds bordered by microridges in the oesophagus of dourado was recorded for the first time, thus showing that the species drives food intake by either swallowing or rejecting the food item. The Y-shaped stomach of dourado consisted of cardiac, cecal and pyloric regions with tubular gastric glands registered solely in the cardiac and cecal segments. The intestine is a short N-shaped tube with two loops, an intestinal coefficient of 0.73. The structure of pyloric caeca is similar to that of the intestine wall, comprising tunica mucosa, tela submucosa, tunica muscularis and tunica serosa layers. Histochemical analyses revealed an increased incidence of goblet cells from the midgut to the hindgut segment. A well-developed enteric plexus of scattered nerve cell and fibres are found along the digestive tract, and the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) immunoreactive neurons and fibres were identified in the myenteric plexus from the oesophagus to the hindgut. The exocrine pancreas appears diffuse in the mesentery around the stomach, intestine and also reaches the liver, and the endocrine pancreas is organized as a few islets of Langerhans. The liver comprises three distinct, asymmetric lobes, and the portal triad arrangement was registered in this tissue.

The delimitation of intestine segments of koi carp (Cyprinus carpio var. koi) based on histological features

In this study, the delimitation of intestine segments of koi carp (Cyprinus carpio var. koi) was conducted using a histological approach with the measurements of height of mucosa folds (HF), width of mucosa folds (WF), thickness of muscularis (TM) and cross-sectional area (CSA). According to the change trends for these four parameters, the intestine of the koi carp was divided into anterior intestine, middle intestine and posterior intestine. The locations of the three intestine segments were defined, and their ratios along the entire intestine were accounted for 23.84 ± 1.18%, 46.77 ± 2.29% and 29.39 ± 1.65%, respectively. The anterior intestine had a significantly higher HF, compared with the middle (p < .01) or posterior intestines (p < .01). The muscularis became thin gradually from the anterior intestine to posterior part. TM was significantly different among the anterior, middle and posterior intestines (p < .01). The anterior intestine had a significantly higher CSA, compared with the middle (p < .01) and posterior intestines (p < .01), and the latter two segments had similar CSA values (p > .05). The procedure of the delimitation of the koi carp intestine segments can offer useful information for future studies on other fish species. The presented results are meaningful for studies on differential functions of the different intestine segments in fish.

A morpho-histopathological study in the digestive tract of three fish species influenced with heavy metal pollution

In this study, the digestive tract of three freshwater fish species (Capoeta capoeta, Alburnus mossulensis and Squalius cephalus) was examined using a morpo-histopathological technique. Sediment and fish samples were taken from selected four stations in the Karasu River (Erzurum, Turkey) between June and September in 2015-2016. In water and sediment samples, the concentrations of some metals (Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Br, Sr and Pb) were determined. Histopathological changes in digestive tract were determined by histopathological alterations index (HAI). Intestinal coefficient (IC) and condition factor (CF), which are general indicators of exposure to environmental stress, were calculated for each fish. The highest CF was observed at the least contaminated site of the gradient. C. capoeta showed the highest values of IC among species. The detected abnormalities were infiltration, swelling, gastric degenerations, vacuolization, congestion, epithelial degenerations, hyperplasia, fibrosis and fusion at polluted site fish. It was also observed that the HAI and IC values in fish varied significantly from site to site. The results showed that the content of heavy metals in the river water and sediment may affect the health status of the fish species.

Transcriptomic analysis of the head kidney of Topmouth culter (Culter alburnus) infected with Flavobacterium columnare with an emphasis on phagosome pathway

Flavobacterium columnare (FC) has caused worldwide fish columnaris disease with high mortality and great economic losses in cultured fish, including Topmouth culter (Culter alburnus). However, the knowledge about the host factors involved in FC infection is little known. In this study, the transcriptomic profiles of the head kidney from Topmouth culter with or without FC infection were obtained using HiSeq™ 2500 (Illumina). Totally 79,641 unigenes with high quality were obtained. Among them, 4037 differently expressed genes, including 1217 up-regulated and 2820 down-regulated genes, were identified and enriched using databases of Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). The differently expressed genes were mainly associated with pathways such as immune response, carbohydrate metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and lipid metabolism. Since phagocytosis is a central mechanism of innate immune response by host cells to defense against infectious agents, genes related to the phagosome pathway were scrutinized and 9 differently expressed phagosome-related genes were identified including 3 up-regulated and 6 down-regulated genes. Five of them were further validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). This transcriptomic analysis of host genes in response to FC infection provides data towards understanding the infection mechanisms and will shed a new light on the prevention of columnaris.

Gross morphology and histology of the alimentary tract of the convict cichlid Amatitlania nigrofasciata

The primary objectives of this study were to document the macroscopic and histological structure of the alimentary tract (AT) of the convict cichlid Amatitlania nigrofasciata, because there are no data available for this omnivorous freshwater fish of the family Cichlidae. The morphology of the AT of A. nigrofasciata resembles that of related species. While having morphological criteria of the AT typical of most omnivorous fishes, such as a blind sac stomach and medium length intestine, A. nigrofasciata also has some structural peculiarities: the oesophagus is lined by a uniform stratified squamous epithelial layer with interspersed goblet cells along its entire length. Additionally, it has well-developed layers of the tunica muscularis including muscle fibre bundles that ascend into its mucosal folds. Occasionally, taste buds are present. In the transitional area between oesophagus and stomach, a prominent torus-like closure device is present. The mucosa of the stomach cannot be divided into different regions according to mucosal and morphological properties. The simple pattern of intestinal loops of A. nigrofasciata has few variations, irrespective of sex, mass and length of the individual fish. The first segment of the intestine is characterized by the largest mucososerosal ratio and the most complex mucosal surface architecture. A distinction of midgut and hindgut was not possible in A. nigrofasciata due to lack of defining structural components as described for other fish species.

The complete mitochondrial genome of the hybrid of Culter alburnus (♀) × Ancherythroculter nigrocauda (♂)

In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of the hybrid of Culter alburnus (♀) × Ancherythroculter nigrocauda (♂) was determined and analyzed for the first time. The total length of the mitogenome is 16,621 bp, with the base composition of 31.20% A, 24.78% T, 27.78% C, and 16.24% G. It contains the typical structure as that of most other vertebrates, including 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes and 2 main non-coding regions (the origin of the light strand replication and the control region). The complete mitogenome of the hybrid of C. alburnus (♀) × A. nigrocauda (♂) provides an important data set for study in mitochondrial inheritance mechanism.

Goblet cell types in intestine of tiger barb and black tetra (Cyprinidae, Characidae: Teleostei)

Histochemical properties of goblet cells in intestine of a stomach-less teleost, tiger barb (Puntius tetrazona), and a stomach-containing teleost, black tetra (Gymnocorymbus ternetzi), are described and compared. The intestine goblet cells were mostly wide in both species, but in tiger barb, some of them were markedly thinner. In black tetra, all the intestine goblet cells displayed magenta colour after PAS, whereas in the tiger barb, only the thinner goblet cells displayed such affinity. The latter cell type was coloured strongly magenta when the tissue was treated with alcian blue (pH 2.5) followed by PAS, whereas the wide goblet cells in tiger barb and all goblet cells in black tetra displayed mainly a blue colour after such treatment. Further, the goblet cells in both species were coloured cleanly blue after high iron diamine followed by alcian blue (pH 2.5). The intestine goblet cells in both species displayed a moderate affinity to WGA and concanavalin A lectins and no affinity to DBA. Most of the goblet cells displayed no affinity to PNA, but some of them in the tiger barb displayed a moderate or strong affinity to this lectin. The affinity to WGA was somewhat strengthened after pre-treatment with neuraminidase. These results suggest that tiger barb contains two types or variants of intestinal goblet cells: high numbers of wide cells filled by acidic, non-sulphated mucin and some thinner cells filled by neutral mucin. The intestine goblet cells in black tetra were filled by variable amounts of neutral and acidic mucin, but the total number of such cells is much less than in tiger barb. The present lectin and neuraminidase results suggest that the intestinal mucins in both species contain significant amounts of N-acetylglucosamine, sialic acid and glucose/mannose, but seem to lack N-acetylgalactosamine. However, some of these cells in tiger barb contain moderate to large amounts of galactose. Together, these results suggest significant species-specific features of the intestine goblet cells and mucin types in tiger barb and black tetra. In conclusion, the present results suggest that the diet and feeding habits in stomach-less teleosts compared with stomach-containing teleosts, greatly influence the number of intestine goblet cells and type of mucin in these cells.