Abstract: | Rearing of 1-year-old Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) at 12°C, as well as the administration of 50 or 75 mgT3/kg feed, accelerated the neonatal to adult fast myosin heavy chain transition, but the effect of temperature was more dramatic than the effect of T3 administration. The endogenous plasma levels of T3 in charrs reared at 12°C were higher than those of analogous groups reared at natural temperature, which in the period under study was between 0.5 and 12°C. As in other species, T3 seemed to play a role in the regulation of the neonatal to adult fast myosin isoform transition by down-regulating the levels of the neonatal and increasing the levels of an adult fast myosin heavy chain. Temperature seemed to accelerate this transition at least, but not only, by inducing an increase in the endogenous levels of T3 in the Arctic charr. |