This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of different dietary
lipid sources on growth performance, lipid metabolism, and physiological stress responses including oxidative stress (OS) and endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) of juvenile Acanthopagrus schlegelii (initial weight 0.88 ± 0.01 g) fed a high-fat diet (HFD). Four isonitrogenous and isolipidic experimental diets containing different
lipid sources were formulated:
fish oil (FO),
palm oil (PO),
linseed oil (LO), and
soybean oil (SO), respectively. Results indicated that fish fed HFD supplemented with FO significantly improved growth than SO treatment. The high concentrations of
aspartate aminotransferase and
alanine transaminase were found in HFD supplemented with SO. Fish fed dietary LO supplementation showed significantly lower serum
cholesterol,
triglyceride,
low-density lipoprotein, and
high-density lipoprotein contents than those in SO group. Likewise, hepatic
paraffin section analysis indicated that HFD with PO or SO supplementation increased fat drop. The expression levels of
peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor alpha (pparα) and silent regulator 1 (
sirt1) were significantly elevated by HFD with FO or LO supplementation. Additionally, the key marker of OS
malonaldehyde was significantly increased in FO and SO groups. ERS-related genes were activated in dietary PO or SO supplementation and, hence, triggering
inflammation and apoptosis by promoting the expression levels of
nuclear factor kappa B (nf-κb) and
c-Jun N-terminal kinase (jnk). Overall, the present study reveals that
lipid metabolic disorders and physiological stress caused by a HFD have significant
lipid source-dependent effects, which have important guiding significance for the use of HFD in marine fish.