The acute salinity changes activate the dual pathways of endocrine responses in the brain and pituitary of tilapia.

To analyze and compare the stress and osmoregulatory hormones and receptors in pituitary during acute salinity changes, the expression patterns of corticotropin releasing hormone (crh) in hypothalamus, prolactin (prl) releasing peptide (pRrp) in telencephalon and diencephalon, glucocorticoid receptors 2 (gr2), and mineralocorticoid receptor (mr), crh-r, pro-opiomelanocorticotropin (pomc), pRrp, prl, dopamine 2 receptor (d2-r), growth hormone (gh), gh-receptor (gh-r) and insulin-like growth hormone (igf-1) transcripts in pituitary were characterized in euryhaline tilapia. The results indicate that the crh transcripts increased in the hypothalamus and rostral pars distalis of the pituitary after the transfer of fish to SW. Similarly, the pRrp transcripts were more abundant in SW acclimated tilapia forebrain and hypothalamus. The crh-r, gr2 and mr transcripts were more expressed in rostral pars distalis and pars intermedia of pituitary at SW than FW tilapia. The data indicate that the SW acclimation stimulates these transcripts in the specific regions of the brain and pituitary which may be related to the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-interrenal (HPI)-axis. The results of dual in situ hybridization reveal that the transcripts of crh-r, gr2 and mr with pomc are highly co-localized in corticotrophs of pituitary. Furthermore, we demonstrate high expression of pRrp in the brain and low expression of pRrp and prl transcripts in the pituitary of SW fish. No crh-r and corticosteroid receptors were co-localized with prl transcripts in the pituitary. The gh-r and igf-1 mRNA levels were significantly increased in SW acclimated tilapia pituitary whereas there was no difference in the gh mRNA levels. The data suggest that the locally produced pRrp and d2-r may control and regulate the expression of prl mRNA in pituitary. Therefore, the dual roles of pRrp are involved in the stress (via brain-pituitary) and osmoregulatory (via pituitary) pathways in tilapia exposed to acute salinity changes.