In teleost fish, stress initiates a hormone cascade along the hypothalamus-pituitary-interrenal (HPI) axis to provoke several physiological reactions in order to maintain homeostasis. In aquaculture, a number of factors induce stress in fish, such as handling and transport, and in order to reduce the consequences of this, the use of anesthetics has been an interesting alternative. Essential oil (EO) of Lippia alba is considered to be a good anesthetic; however, its distinct chemotypes have different side effects. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate, in detail, the expression of genes involved with the HPI axis and the effects of anesthesia with the EOs of two chemotypes of L. alba (citral EO-C and linalool EO-L) on this expression in silver catfish, Rhamdia quelen. Anesthesia with the EO-C is stressful for silver catfish because there was an upregulation of the genes directly related to stress: slc6a2, crh, hsd20b, hspa12a, and hsp90. In this study, it was also possible to observe the importance of the hsd11b2 gene in the response to stress by handling. The use of EO-C as anesthetics for fish is not recommended, but, the use of OE-L is indicated for silver catfish as it does not cause major changes in the HPI axis.
Keywords: Anesthesia; Fish; Natural products; Stress; mRNA.