Metabolic reserves and enzyme activities with food deprivation in immature American eels, Anguilla rostrata (LeSueur)

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Abstract
Changes in tissue metabolic reserves and enzyme activities have been evaluated after food depriving immature American eels (Anguilla rostrata) for 6 months. Tissue carbohydrate status was maintained, but significant depletion of insoluble myofibrillar protein occurred. Plasma free fatty acids increased and muscle lipids generally increased; the source of these additional fats is not known. Activities of glycolytic, gluconeogenic, and amino acid metabolizing enzymes were generally conserved in liver and red and white muscles, consistent with a lack of change in soluble tissue protein. The few exceptions were decreases in muscle phosphorylase and white muscle fructose-1,6-bis-phosphatase. Activities of gluconeogenic enzymes were found in red muscle, but the significance of this result could not be evaluated. The pattern of branched-chain amino acid metabolizing enzymes is quite distinct from that reported for mammalian tissues, implying an altered whole body turnover of these amino acids in the eel (and probably other fish as well). These data are discussed in relation to other fish studies, emphasizing the role of protein amino acids in the fasting strategy of the immature eel and the importance of the prior dietary history of the fish to the observed results.

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