Regulation of rhythmicity of proteolytic digestive function in gilthead seabream under different daily feeding protocols

Abstract

Digestion consists of a group of complex processes, involving physical, chemical, and biochemical transformations of the ingested food. All of them are interdependent and finely tuned by a number of molecular, hormonal, and nervous signals, many of which are driven by the circadian system. This system is composed of several interconnected oscillators, for which light-dark and feeding-fasting cycles are the most powerful synchronizers. An increased knowledge of Food Anticipatory Activity (FAA), an out of Food-entrainable oscillators (FEO), may help to optimize the utilization of nutrients by a given species adapting feeding protocols to these internal rhythms. The present work aimed to evaluate the rhythmicity of some of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) factors that are related to digestive efficiency in gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) juveniles as well as to determine how these factors are affected by different feeding protocols.