Increased reliance on coronary perfusion for cardiorespiratory performance in seawater-acclimated rainbow trout

Abstract

Salmonid ventricles are composed of spongy and compact myocardium, the latter being perfused via a coronary circulation. Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) acclimated to sea water have higher proportions of compact myocardium and display stroke volume-mediated elevations in resting cardiac output relative to freshwater-acclimated trout, likely to meet the higher metabolic needs of osmoregulatory functions. Here, we tested the hypothesis that cardiorespiratory performance of rainbow trout in sea water is more dependent on coronary perfusion by assessing the effects of coronary ligation on cardiorespiratory function in resting and exhaustively exercised trout acclimated to fresh water or sea water. While ligation only had minor effects on resting cardiorespiratory function across salinities, cardiac function after chasing to exhaustion was impaired, presumably due to atrioventricular block. The 33% and 17% lower maximum O2 consumption rate caused corresponding 41% and 17% impairments of aerobic scope in ligated fish acclimated to sea water and fresh water, respectively. However, this was only partly explained by effects on cardiac performance, as maximum stroke volume was only significantly impaired by ligation in sea water, resulting in 38% lower maximum cardiac output in seawater compared with 28% in fresh water. The more pronounced effect on respiratory performance in sea water was presumably also explained by lower blood O2 carrying capacity, with ligated seawater-acclimated trout having 16% and 17% lower haemoglobin concentration and haematocrit, relative to ligated freshwater trout. In conclusion, we show that the coronary circulation allows seawater-acclimated trout to maintain aerobic scope at a level comparable to fresh water.

Impairing cardiac oxygen supply in swimming coho salmon compromises their heart function and tolerance to acute warming

“…Future experiments should focus on a potential impairment of electrical conduction in the ventricular myocardium; Electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings have shown that a similar type of bradycardia, as observed here, occurred in rainbow trout following an exhaustive chase protocol to elicit maximum cardiorespiratory performance 51 , which was attributed to second degree atrio-ventricular block 52 , 53 . The atrio-ventricular canal of fish conducts action potentials from the sinoatrial pacemaker region to the ventricle, and in salmonids contains compact myocardium perfused by the coronaries 54 .…”

Local variation in stress response of juvenile anadromous brown trout, Salmo trutta

“…For instance, acclimation to seawater in rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss , results in higher proportions of compact myocardium compared with that of conspecifics in freshwater. This suggests an increased dependency on the coronary circulation, which provides oxygen‐rich blood to the compact myocardium, likely meeting the higher metabolic needs of osmoregulatory functions (Brijs et al., 2017 ; Wallbom et al., 2023 ). The salmonid heart is a highly phenotypically plastic organ and remodels across multiple levels of organization in response to environmental stimuli (Brijs et al., 2017 ; Gamperl & Farrell, 2004 ; Wallbom et al., 2023 ).…”