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First published online December 16, 2008
Journal of Experimental Biology 212, 56-70 (2009)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2009
doi: 10.1242/jeb.021352

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Activity of the pituitary–gonadal axis is increased prior to the onset of spawning migration of chum salmon

Takeshi A. Onuma^1,2,*, Shunpei Sato³, Hiroshi Katsumata², Keita Makino², WeiWei Hu², Aya Jodo², Nancy D. Davis⁴, Jon T. Dickey⁵, Masatoshi Ban³, Hironori Ando¹, Masa-aki Fukuwaka⁶, Tomonori Azumaya⁶, Penny Swanson⁵ and Akihisa Urano²

¹ Graduate School of Bioresource and Bioenvironmental Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan
² Section of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
³ National Salmon Resources Center, Fisheries Research Agency, Sapporo 062-0922, Japan
⁴ School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
⁵ Northwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries, Seattle, WA 99164, USA
⁶ Hokkaido National Fisheries Research Institute, Fisheries Research Agency, Kushiro 085-0802, Japan

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: takeshikiai{at}msn.com)

Accepted 14 October 2008

The activity of the pituitary–gonadal axis (PG axis) in pre-migratory and homing chum salmon was examined because endocrine mechanisms underlying the onset of spawning migration remain unknown. Pre-migratory fish were caught in the central Bering Sea in June, July and September 2001, 2002 and 2003, and in the Gulf of Alaska in February 2006. They were classified into immature and maturing adults on the basis of gonadal development. The maturing adults commenced spawning migration to coastal areas by the end of summer, because almost all fish in the Bering Sea were immature in September. In the pituitaries of maturing adults, the copy numbers of FSHβ mRNA and the FSH content were 2.5- to 100-fold those of the immature fish. Similarly, the amounts of LHβ mRNA and LH content in the maturing adults were 100- to 1000-fold those of immature fish. The plasma levels of testosterone, 11-ketotestosterone and estradiol were higher than 10 nmol l^–1 in maturing adults, but lower than 1.0 nmol l^–1 in immature fish. The increase in the activity of the PG-axis components had already initiated in the maturing adults while they were still in the Gulf of Alaska in winter. In the homing adults, the pituitary contents and the plasma levels of gonadotropins and plasma sex steroid hormones peaked during upstream migration from the coast to the natal hatchery. The present results thus indicate that the seasonal increase in the activity of the PG axis is an important endocrine event that is inseparable from initiation of spawning migration of chum salmon.

Key words: spawning migration, salmon, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, steroid hormone, pituitary–gonadal axis

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