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<p>In all vertebrate species, reproduction is a hormonally controlled process, important for growth and maturation of gonads and germ cells. Production of functional germ cells is of outmost importance to secure the survival of a species. Fish comprises 50% of the known vertebrates and are found in aquatic habitats all over the world. Even though fish have evolved a wide variety of morphological and physiological characteristics, due to large differences in the living environment, the growth an maturation of germ cells follows the same pattern in all species. In this thesis the focus has been directed on oocyte growth and development in Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus), and if stress might inflict disturbances on the reproductive systems.</p><p>All sexually mature female egg laying vertebrates produces yolky eggs surrounded by an eggshell. Production of yolk and egg shell is under estrogenic control and it is known that production of egg components can be induced in male and juvenile fish by estrogenic substances. Many manmade chemicals have been found to interfere with hormonally controlled processes. Therefore production of the egg yolk precursor, vitellogenin (VTG), and the egg shell components, vitelline envelope proteins (VEP), have been used as biomarkers for estrogenic effect. Exposure to endocrine disrupting substances (EDS) does not only give rise to hormonal effects on the organism, but in addition it also gives rise to an increase in stress hormone, cortisol (F), levels. </p><p>It is evident that a wide variety of substances may affect Arctic char oocyte growth and maturation. VTG and VEP production is found to be under dose dependent estrogenic control, but the production was directly affected by F. Under natural condition it has been found that F increases towards ovulation. Even though both VTG and VTG is under estrogenic control, these studies showed that stress lead to a decrease of VTG while the VEP production increased. These effects was only observed on protein levels indicating that a post transcriptional down regulation of VTG production is mediated by F in Arctic char.</p><p>In order for an egg to become fertilizatible, it must undergo a maturation phase. This maturation phase is primarily induced by gonadotropins, which in turn induce the production of species specific maturation inducing substances (MIS). To investigate oocyte development in Arctic char a characterization of its MIS receptor was made. The MIS receptor is localized on the oocyte surface and displays a single class of high affinity and low capacity binding sites. The binding moieties displays association and dissociation kinetics typical of steroid membrane receptors.</p><p>Even though high specificity for Arctic char MIS was observed, it was found that some EDS bind to the Arctic char oocyte membrane receptor. This suggest that certain EDS might affect oocyte maturation and thereby might alter the reproductive success. Furthermore, it was found that F did not bind to the MIS receptor in Arctic char. It is therefore suggested that oocytes are more sensitive to stress during the growth phase than during maturation</p>

In all vertebrate species, reproduction is a hormonally controlled process, important for growth and maturation of gonads and germ cells. Production of functional germ cells is of outmost importance to secure the survival of a species. Fish comprises 50% of the known vertebrates and are found in aquatic habitats all over the world. Even though fish have evolved a wide variety of morphological and physiological characteristics, due to large differences in the living environment, the growth an maturation of germ cells follows the same pattern in all species. In this thesis the focus has been directed on oocyte growth and development in Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus), and if stress might inflict disturbances on the reproductive systems. All sexually mature female egg laying vertebrates produces yolky eggs surrounded by an eggshell. Production of yolk and egg shell is under estrogenic control and it is known that production of egg components can be induced in male and juvenile fish by estrogenic substances. Many manmade chemicals have been found to interfere with hormonally controlled processes. Therefore production of the egg yolk precursor, vitellogenin (VTG), and the egg shell components, vitelline envelope proteins (VEP), have been used as biomarkers for estrogenic effect. Exposure to endocrine disrupting substances (EDS) does not only give rise to hormonal effects on the organism, but in addition it also gives rise to an increase in stress hormone, cortisol (F), levels. It is evident that a wide variety of substances may affect Arctic char oocyte growth and maturation. VTG and VEP production is found to be under dose dependent estrogenic control, but the production was directly affected by F. Under natural condition it has been found that F increases towards ovulation. Even though both VTG and VTG is under estrogenic control, these studies showed that stress lead to a decrease of VTG while the VEP production increased. These effects was only observed on protein levels indicating that a post transcriptional down regulation of VTG production is mediated by F in Arctic char. In order for an egg to become fertilizatible, it must undergo a maturation phase. This maturation phase is primarily induced by gonadotropins, which in turn induce the production of species specific maturation inducing substances (MIS). To investigate oocyte development in Arctic char a characterization of its MIS receptor was made. The MIS receptor is localized on the oocyte surface and displays a single class of high affinity and low capacity binding sites. The binding moieties displays association and dissociation kinetics typical of steroid membrane receptors. Even though high specificity for Arctic char MIS was observed, it was found that some EDS bind to the Arctic char oocyte membrane receptor. This suggest that certain EDS might affect oocyte maturation and thereby might alter the reproductive success. Furthermore, it was found that F did not bind to the MIS receptor in Arctic char. It is therefore suggested that oocytes are more sensitive to stress during the growth phase than during maturation