Recent Advances in Fish Reproductive Biology

Contents 1 Morphological aspects of the pituitary as the central regulatory organ in the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonad HPG axis in fish Elisabeth Eppler 2 Neural and neuroendocrine control of reproduction in fishJose Antonio Munoz-Cueto 3 Environmental and neuroendocrine control of fish reproductionCardinaletti G Franzoni MF Palermo FA Cottone E Mosconi G Guastalla A Campantico E Tibaldi E and Polzonetti-Magni AM 4 Estrogen and estrogen receptors in male fish reproductionXiaochun Liu Pei Zhu Yong Zhang Yanan Shi Wenna Luo Chi Xu and Haoran Lin 5 Cellular interactions and spermatogenesis in the fish testisDaniel G Cyr and James J Nagler 6 Immune and reproductive interaction An essential clue for understanding gonad functions in gilthead seabreamElena Chaves-Pozo Sergio Liarte-Lastra and Alfonsa Garcia-Ayala 7 Paracrine control of fish ovarian follicle development and functionWei Ge 8 Recent advances in fish sex determination and gametogenesis studies through genomic investigationsFlorence Le Gac and Jean-Jacques Lareyre 9 The endocrine disruption forecast Are adverse effects predictableNatalia Garcia-Reyero and Edward PerkinsReproductive process in fish is significant physiologically and is of considerable interest not only for basic research but also for practical application given the many different species of fish their key position in vertebrate phylogeny and the increasing importance of aquaculture as a food resource Seasonal reproduction is governed by endogenous circannual rhythms biological clocks which are entrained by various external factors In facts fishes correctly integrate environmental cues using specific sensory systems and then transduce these cues into a cascade of hormones along the entire pineal-brain-pituitary-gonadal axis Disrupting this system it have recently point out a great number of chemicals pour for the industry that have negative impacts on the reproductive capabilities of multiples water species of vertebrates Reproductive studies performed mostly in hormonal regulation of reproduction have traditionally been the references for studies in fish reproductive biology However the efforts of research scientists around the world have produced significant findings that allow us to identify more elements controlling the full gametogenetic capacity of a mature fish Interestingly the gonad is regulated by the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad HPG axis but it also modulated in an autocrine and paracrine way This local regulation has recently been pointed out as important for normal gametogenesis and reproductive efficiency The objective of the present book is to compile the main novel findings that reflect current thinking on fish reproductive biology One chapter is devoted to pituitary as the central endocrine organ in the HPG axis that regulates gonad differentiation Also two chapters look at different aspect of the HPG axis and revised our knowledge on the hormonal mechanisms that transduce all the environmental cues ensuring that reproduction takes place at the time of year most favourable for the survival of progeny The public interests in estrogen have been aroused to its actions on male reproduction and a great number of studies have been developed in that sense in mammals and recently in teleosts The role of estrogen in the male reproductive functions is a very novel field of research in teleosts and one chapter of this book revises the role of estrogen in spermatogenesis and spermiogenesis at multiple target sites in hypothalamus-pituitary-testis axis The studies performed in the recently years have pointed out the great importance of a group of regulatory factors that work in side the gonad and modulate gametogenesis and steroidogenesis In this sense a group of chapters review the local regulatory factors of gametogenesis in both testis and ovary In testis the novel researches focus on cell to cell interaction inside the gonad that allows the complex regulation of gametogenesis Two chapters comply with.…