Abstract
Acute stress response in the European bitterling, Rhodeus amarus, to glochidia parasitism by the invasive unionid mussel, Sinanodonta woodiana, was quantified by analysing cortisol plasma levels using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometer. We tested a novel method which required as little as 4 µL of plasma by increasing the volume using charcoal-treated plasma. Bitterling were observed to increase cortisol levels significantly in response to glochidia infestation. Overall, this technique allows the precise measurement of steroid hormone plasma concentrations in small fish.
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Data availability
The original data and the R code for data analyses are available in FigShare repository (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.20805766).
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Acknowledgements
We thank two referees for their constructive comments on the manuscript and Rowena Spence for comments and English corrections. Cortisol quantification was performed in Karel Harant Laboratory of mass spectrometry and OMICS analysis at BIOCEV Research Center, Faculty of Science, Charles University.
Funding
Funding came from the Czech Science Foundation project (19-05510S) to K.D.
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MR conceived and designed the study, analysed the data and wrote the manuscript, KD performed experimental infestations, RB collected blood samples, and AB analysed cortisol levels. All authors revised and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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The care and use of experimental animals complied with Czech and EU animal welfare laws, guidelines and policies as approved by ethical committee of the Ministry of Education (MSMT 18809/2019–5, individual licence: CZ01285).
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The authors declare no competing interests.
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Reichard, M., Douda, K., Blažek, R. et al. Increased plasma cortisol level as acute response to glochidia parasitism. Environ Biol Fish 106, 101–106 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-022-01379-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-022-01379-6