Effects of temperature fluctuation on endocrine disturbance of grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella under mercury chloride stress

Mercury (Hg) is considered to be one of the most toxic and ubiquitously distributed metals in the aquatic system. Meanwhile, the temperature increase of water bodies due to global climatic changes, may affect ecosystems through alterations of the metal properties or by affecting the susceptibility of organisms. To study the physiological stress of mercury chloride on grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella at different temperatures, we investigated the effects of water temperature and/or mercury chloride (HgCl₂) on growth performance (SGR-the specific growth rate, HSI-hepato-somatic index, CF-condition factor) and the thyroid hormones levels (T3-triiodothyronine; T4-thyroxine), as well as the expression levels of related genes involved growth and hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis. Fish (45.37 ± 3.58 g) were acclimated to 15, 20, 25, 30 or 35 °C and co-exposed to 0.0 or 0.039 mg/L HgCl₂ for 4 weeks in triplicates. Three-way ANOVA revealed that all variables were significantly affected by water temperature, HgCl₂ exposure, exposure time and their interactions. It was found that fish reared in Hg-free group at 25 °C showed the optimum growth. Otherwise, T4 concentrations were decreased, while T3 levels remained constant following exposure to HgCl₂, which was explained by the up-regulation of the dio2 gene. Our data provide evidences that increased temperatures can potentiate HgCl₂ toxicity, but the exact mechanism of the effects of temperature coupled HgCl₂ on fish is not full clear, which should be give more attention in future.