Separate and combined effects of cyclic fasting and l-carnitine supplementation in red porgy (Pagrus pagrus, L. 1758)

• Autor(a) principal: Nogueira, Natacha
• Data de Publicação: 2010
• Outros Autores: Cordeiro, Nereida, Canada, Paula, Silva, Paula Cruz e, Ozório, Rodrigo O. A.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.13/3357
• topic: Fasting; Compensatory growth; Carnitine; Red porgy; .; Faculdade de Ciências Exatas e da Engenharia

We examined the e¡ects of cyclic fasting in red porgy (Pagrus pagrus) fed di¡erent dietary carnitine levels. Ju venile ¢sh (23.58 3.49 g) were divided into eight groups ^ four groups were fed every day to apparent sa tiation, while the other four were fasted for 7 days every 2 weeks. In each feeding regime, two replicates were fed an L-carnitine non-supplemented diet (46 mg kg 1 ) and the other two groups were fed an L-carnitine sup plemented diet (630 mg kg 1 ). Fish fed 630 mg L-carni tine accumulated two times more L-carnitine in muscle than ¢sh fed 46 mg L-carnitine. Cyclic fasting reduced the growth performance and lipid content in the liver. Carnitine supplementation did not a¡ect performance and body composition, but decreased the n-6 PUFA content. Moreover, the combined e¡ects of fasting and carnitine supplementation were observed on reducing the n-3 fatty acid content. Areas of steatosis were found in the livers of red porgy, but the results revealed that supplementation of L-carnitine in cyclic fasted ¢sh con tributed towards a lower degree of vacuolization than in ¢sh fed to apparent satiation. Regardless of the feed ing regime applied, the spleen of ¢sh fed the L-carni tine-supplemented diet was haemorrhagic and hyper activation of melanomacrophage cells was observed.