Stimulatory effects of neuropeptide Y on the growth of orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides)

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a member of the pancreatic polypeptide family which is a potent orexigenic peptide known to date in mammals and teleost. This study was carried out to investigate the effects of NPY on food intake and growth of orange-spotted grouper (Epinepheltis coioides). Synthetic grouper NPY (gNPY) was given orally at the dose of 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mu g/g feed for 50 days, results showed that NPY treatment (1.0 and 2.0 mu g/g feed) significantly increased growth rate, weight gain, feed conversion efficiency (FCE) and pituitary growth hormone (GH) mRNA level than the control group (p < 0.05). Furthermore, high level secretion of gNPY was expressed and purified in the Pichia pastoris expression system. The bioactivity of recombinant gNPY was confirmed by its ability to up-regulate GH mRNA expression in vivo and in vitro and down-regulate preprosomatostatin I (PSSI) mRNA expression in vivo. These results demonstrate that NPY has stimulatory effects on food intake as well as growth of grouper as in other teleost fish, also indicate that recombinant gNPY from P. pastoris has the same bioactivity as synthetic gNPY and has the potential to be used as a feed additive for both research and aquatic application. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.