The impact of social status on the erythrocyte β-adrenergic response in rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss

The objective of the present investigation was to determine whether chronic increases in circulating cortisol concentrations, resulting from the occupation of subordinate status in rainbow trout social hierarchies, resulted in an enhancement of the erythrocyte adrenergic response. Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were confined in fork length matched pairs for 6 h, 18 h, 48 h or 5–7 days, and social status was assigned through observations of behaviour. Erythrocyte adrenergic responsiveness, determined in vitro as changes in water content following incubation with the β-adrenoreceptor agonist isoproterenol, was significantly greater in subordinate than dominant fish at 48 h of social interactions but not after 5–7 days, nor when assessed as changes in extracellular pH (pHe). However, the activity of the Na+/H+ exchanger (β-NHE), assessed in vitro as the pHe change following incubation with the permeable cyclic AMP analogue 8-bromo-cyclic AMP, was significantly lower in subordinate fish. The number of erythrocyte membrane-bound adrenergic receptors (Bmax) was significantly higher in subordinate than dominant fish at 48 h, but had decreased by 5–7 days to a value that was not significantly different from that for dominant fish. The apparent dissociation constant (KD) of these receptors was not significantly impacted by either social status or interaction time. Finally, the relative expressions of β-3b adrenergic receptor (AR) and β-NHE mRNA were determined using real-time PCR and were found to be minimally affected by social rank. Relative to a control group, β-3b AR mRNA was significantly up-regulated in both dominant and subordinate trout at all time periods, whereas the expression of β-NHE was in general significantly down-regulated. Unlike the situation in rainbow trout treated with exogenous cortisol, elevations in circulating cortisol resulting from low social status did not “pre-adapt” the erythrocyte adrenergic response, but rather may have served to offset the potentially adverse effects elicited by plasma catecholamines, which were elevated during social hierarchy formation.