Plasma catecholamines and accumulation of adrenaline in the atrial cardiac tissue of aquacultured Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) during stress

The effects of stress on plasma catecholamines (CA) and capacity for tissue accumulation of CA were studied in cardiac and skeletal muscle of cultured Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.). Adrenaline (A) and noradrenaline (NA) were quantified by high performance liquid chromatography. Plasma A and NA levels were 56±10 nmoll−1 and 77±17 nmoll−1 (±s.e.m.), respectively, in a control group living under normal rearing conditions in a fish farm. Following a ±3 h period of pre-slaughter crowding and handling in the fish farm, plasma A reached 221 ± 72 nmol1−1 with no increase in plasma NA. An 0.5 h period of struggling out of water led to even higher level of plasma A (480 ± 89 nmol1−1), without change in NA. Skeletal muscle was low in CA (A, 0.07 ± 0.02 and NA, 0.06 ± 0.01 nmol g−1 wet wt). Tissue CA was higher in the atrium (A, 0.47 ± 0.04 and NA 0.94 ± 0.10 nmol g−1) than in the ventricle (A, 0.25 ± 0.03 and NA, 0.30 ± 0.02 nmol g−1). The 0.5 h period out of water and the 0.5-3 h period of pre-slaughter crowding led to accumulation of A, but not NA, in the atrium. These data show that A, released during stress, accumulates in an undegraded form in the atrial tissue of the Atlantic salmon. This suggests a potent uptake mechanism for A in the atria presumably in the sympathetic nerve terminals. The acumulation of A in the atrium appears to reflect the period of high plasma A during stress.