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Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, and * Department of Veterinary Pathobiology and Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1159
2To whom correspondence should be addressed.
| ABSTRACT |
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KEY WORDS: tilapia methionine sulfur amino acid requirements choline
| INTRODUCTION |
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As adults, some vertebrates are able to synthesize sufficient choline
to meet metabolic needs (Anderson et al. 1979
,
Casselman and Williams 1954
, Dutra and McKibbon 1945
, Kroening and Pond 1967
, Russett et al. 1979
). However, juveniles of several species lack
phosphatidylethanolamine-N-methyl transferase activity
and cannot synthesize sufficient choline, as phosphatidylcholine.
Further, synthesis of choline from other sources is insufficient to
meet the animals needs (Combs 1992
, Hove et al. 1954
, Jukes 1941
and 1945,
Molitoris and Baker 1976
). Thus, dietary choline
is essential for maximum growth and health regardless of the level of
dietary methionine or other methyl donors. In the previous studies with
tilapia, methionine concentrations were 1.0 and 1.13 g/100 g diet,
amounts that are well in excess of the requirement of 0.75 g/100g for
Nile tilapia (O. niloticus) with an initial weight of 62
mg (Santiago and Lovell 1988
). The excessive methionine
concentration may have flooded the sulfur amino acid catabolic pathway
with sufficient metabolic precursors for synthesis of choline, thereby
masking any effect from dietary supplementation of choline. Most diets
for tilapia will not contain excessive levels of methionine because
this essential amino acid tends to be one of the first limiting in
diets fed to fish.
The most common clinical signs and lesions associated with
choline deficiency in fish are decreased weight gain and feed
efficiency, hepatic lipidosis and renal hemorrhage (Chan 1991
, Griffin et al. 1994b
,
Halver 1957
, Ketola 1976
, McLaren et al. 1947
, Ogino et al. 1970
, Wilson and Poe 1988
). However, these findings vary across species.
Graded additions of choline in diets fed to red drum (Sciaenops
ocellatus) resulted in an accumulation of liver lipid
(Craig and Gatlin 1991
). Addition of choline to purified
diets fed to rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss;
Rumsey 1991
) and yellow perch (Perca
flavescens, unpublished data from our laboratory) did not have
a significant effect on liver lipid concentrations.
Choline requirements of fish range from 0.05 g/kg diet for juvenile
rainbow trout (Poston 1991
) to 3.4 g/kg diet for
sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus, (Hung 1989
). An inverse relationship exists between the dietary
choline requirement and size of rainbow trout. Requirements were 3.0,
0.813, 0.714 and between 0.05 and 0.1 g/kg diet for trout weighing
0.12, 1.4, 3.2 and 3.5 g, respectively (McLaren et al. 1947
, Poston 1991
, Rumsey 1991
).
Thus, the ontogenetic differences observed in some terrestrial
vertebrates might be present in trout.
The purposes of the following two studies were to reexamine the essentiality of choline in diets fed to tilapia and investigate the potential interaction between methionine and choline.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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Juvenile Nile tilapia were acquired from a private producer in Ladoga, IN, and transported to the Purdue University Aquaculture Research Facility. Fish were acclimated to laboratory conditions for 2 wk before initiation of the experiment. Experimental protocols used in these studies were approved by the Purdue Animal Care and Use Committee (PACUC No. 89060-98, Nutritional Studies with Aquatic Animals, Principal Investigator Qualifications No. BRO-249.)
The recirculating experimental culture system that was used in both
experiments was the same as that previously described by Griffin et al. (1992)
. The diurnal light:dark cycle was 16 h
light:8 h dark, and temperature was maintained at 28°C.
Fish (n = 15) were randomly selected and stocked into each aquarium, and dietary treatments were randomly assigned to triplicate aquaria in both experiments. Fish were acclimated to their new environment and to a crystalline amino acid diet for 2 wk before initiation of the experiments. Initial fish weights ranged from 3.1 to 3.4 g in Experiment 1 and 2.6 to 3.0 g in Experiment 2. Fish were fed 5 g feed/(100 g body weight·d) divided into two equal meals. Fish were weighed every 14 d to adjust food allotments. Each experiment lasted 8 wk.
Diets.
The basal diets used in both experiments were identical and were
formulated to contain 32 g crude protein/100 g diet (Table 1
). Casein and gelatin provided 10.1 g crude protein/100 g diet, and
the methionine- and cyst(e)ine-free crystalline L-amino
acid mixture (Table 2
) provided 21.9 g crude protein/100 g diet. Total sulfur amino acid
(TSAA) concentration provided from the casein and gelatin was 0.28
g/100 g diet (0.25 g methionine and 0.03 g cyst(e)ine/100 g diet).
The basal diet contained 7 g menhaden oil and 30 g
dextrin/100 g, resulting in an energy/protein ratio of 63 kJ/g protein.
A choline-free, but otherwise complete vitamin premix and a
nutritionally complete mineral premix were added to diets in both
experiments (Griffin et al. 1992
). These formulations
are similar to those used to quantify the essential amino acid
requirements of tilapia (Santiago and Lovell 1988
).
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Dry ingredients, except for choline chloride, were mixed in a
V-mixer (Patterson-Kelly, East Stroudsburg, PA), transferred to a
Hobart mixer (Hobart , Troy OH) and mixed with lipid and water. Before
pelleting, diets were adjusted to pH 6.87.0 (Wilson et al. 1977
) with saturated sodium hydroxide. Choline was then added
in a water carrier (Halver 1989
) and mixed into the
diets. All diets were then pelleted, dried at 60°C in a
forced-air oven and stored under air-tight conditions at
-20°C until required for feeding (Griffin et al. 1992
).
Serum and liver collection.
At the conclusion of each experiment, all fish were weighed 24 h
after the final feeding and then killed with tricane methanesulfonate
(Argent Chemical, Redmond, WA). Livers from three randomly chosen fish
in each replicate were removed and pooled for determination of liver
lipid content. Liver lipid was quantified by chloroform/methanol
extraction (Folch et al. 1957
) in a Soxhlet extractor.
Livers from three randomly selected fish from each treatment group were
removed and preserved in 100 mL/L neutral buffered formalin solution
for subsequent histologic evaluation. Tissue sections were prepared
using routine techniques (Sheehan and Hrapchak 1980
).
Paraffin-embedded tissues were sectioned at 56
µm, stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and subjected
to microscopic evaluation.
At the end of each experiment, blood was collected from a minimum of
three anesthetized fish in each aquarium and pooled by dietary
replicate for determination of serum methionine concentrations. Serum
was obtained from pooled blood samples by centrifuging at 3000 x g for 15 min and deproteinized with HPLC-grade
acetonitrile. Serum amino acids were then subjected to precolumn
derivitization with phenylisothiocyanate, and separated and quantified
using a Waters Pico · Tag system (Waters Chromatography Division,
Millipore , Milford, MA) according to the methods of Sarwar and Botting (1990)
.
Statistical analyses.
Data were analyzed with the use of two-way ANOVA, using each
aquarium as the experimental unit. Accepted level of significance was
P < 0.05. All statistical analyses were performed
using software from the Statistical Analysis System (SAS 1996
). If differences in treatment means were detected by
ANOVA, then a Student-Neuman-Keuls test was used to separate means.
| RESULTS |
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0.50 g/100 g dry diet did not exhibit significant
improvements in either variable. Serum methionine concentrations were
not significantly different between fish fed the two lowest
concentrations of TSAA, but were significantly higher in fish fed
dietary TSAA concentrations >0.50 g/100 g diet. None of the variables
measured were significantly affected by dietary choline or the
interaction between choline and methionine.
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| DISCUSSION |
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In Experiment 2, when juvenile fish were fed diets that contained minimal sulfur amino acid concentrations and higher concentrations of choline, it was clear that dietary choline was required. Within sulfur amino acid levels, weight gain increased as choline concentration increased from 1 to 3 g/kg diet, then decreased in fish fed 4 g/kg diet. On the bases of weight gain and feed efficiency in fish fed 0.5 g/100 g TSAA, the requirement for choline in juvenile tilapia is 3 g/kg diet.
Hepatic lipid concentrations were not responsive to dietary treatments
in these studies, although they have been responsive to dietary choline
concentrations in some other species of fish. The exceptions have been
red drum (Craig and Gatlin 1991
), rainbow trout
(Rumsey 1991
) and yellow perch (unpublished data from
our laboratory). Despite the reduction in total liver lipids observed
in Experiment 2, histopathologic evaluation indicated the presence of
macrovesicular and microvesicular degeneration in fish from all
treatments, indicative of intracellular lipid and glycogen
accumulations, respectively. This has been a relatively common finding
in nutritional studies with fish (Brown et al. 1993
).
However, association between microscopic lesions and hepatic function
is lacking in fish.
The dietary TSAA requirement determined in the first experiment is
lower than most other TSAA requirements for fish, which range from 1.9
to 4.0 g/100 g dietary protein. However, the requirement estimate based
on weight gain and FE was confirmed with serum methionine values. Our
ability to confirm dietary essential amino acid requirements of fish by
serum amino acid concentrations has not been universally successful
(Cowey et al. 1992
); however, it is considered an
important response variable (Griffin et al. 1994a
,
Harding et al. 1977
). More importantly, the requirement
estimate determined in these studies could be an overestimate. If
tilapia can use absorbed methionine as a source of choline, the diets
used in the first study were deficient in choline, and a higher
proportion of the methionine would have been used to supply choline.
Further, the TSAA requirement for vertebrates can be lower when a
maximal proportion of cyst(e)ine is supplied in the diet (Chung and Baker 1992
). Although the TSAA requirement for tilapia
determined in these studies was on the lower end of existing values for
fish, the dietary choline requirement was comparatively high.
Most choline requirements for fish range from 0.05 to 3.4 g/kg diet
(McLaren et al. 1947
, NRC 1993
,
Poston 1991
, Rumsey 1991
); thus the value
for tilapia is on the high end of that range. In our second study,
dietary TSAA concentration was maintained at the minimal requirement,
which diminishes the amount that could be used for choline synthesis.
Thus, our requirement estimate could be viewed as maximal, appropriate
for dietary formulations that contain a minimal amount of potential
precursors for choline synthesis. Sulfur amino acids in formulations
for fish are often first limiting (Brown et al. 1997
),
and excessive levels are rare in most formulations. The dietary choline
requirement might be lower if excess sulfur amino acids or other
compounds are provided in the diet. However, it seems clear that a
source of choline is required in certain diets fed to tilapia. Further,
it appears that choline is toxic when fed at 4 g/kg diet regardless of
the level of TSAA.
Weight gain, FE and survival were clearly lower in fish fed 4 g
choline/kg diet compared with fish fed other levels in either study.
Byington (1978)
reported that the 50% lethal dose
(LD50) for rats was 3.46.7 g choline
chloride/kg diet. Zeisel and Blusztajn (1994)
reported
that excess dietary choline chloride depressed growth and increased
mortality in rats, and caused diarrhea in humans. The toxicity was
attributed to an ionic imbalance caused by the chloride component.
Choline toxicity was reported by Griffin et al.(1994a)
when hybrid striped bass where fed 8 g/kg of choline bitartrate. Fish
in that experiment showed no adverse affects to lower concentrations of
the bitartrate form or to the chloride form at dietary concentrations
of 0.25 to 8 g/kg.
In the previous studies with tilapia, initial weight of fish was
1.62.6 g and dietary choline concentrations were 02 g/kg diet
(Roem et al. 1990a
and 1990b
). Initial fish size was
similar in those studies compared with this study; thus, age or size of
fish does not seem to have contributed to the previous attempts to
establish the essentiality of choline. Dietary TSAA concentrations were
well above either of the established requirements for juvenile tilapia
and may have provided sufficient precursor to mask any effects of
dietary choline supplementation. However, it is also clear that dietary
choline concentrations evaluated in the previous studies were below
those that resulted in maximal response in our studies. Roem et al. (1990b)
evaluated graded levels of choline that included 1
and 2 g/kg diet. In agreement with our results, fish fed those diets
did not exhibit significantly different weight gain or FE. Thus, the
inability to establish the essentiality of dietary choline in tilapia
appears to have been the result of excessive sulfur amino acid
precursors, insufficient dietary levels of choline or a combination of
the two factors.
| FOOTNOTES |
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Manuscript received May 11, 1999. Initial review completed June 18, 1999. Revision accepted October 18, 1999.
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