London, Jan 16 (Inditop.com) It is likely that fishes also feel the pain, says a new study.
Norwegian School of Veterinary Science doctoral student Janicke Nordgreen has studied nociception and pain in teleost fish. Nociception is physiological detection of stimuli that can cause tissue damage.
Nordgreen studied the response to potentially painful stimuli. As consciousness is essential to feel pain, Nordgreen tested as well whether fish can be taught to solve a task as in humans it requires conscious attention.
Besides, the research may increase our understanding of the evolution of consciousness and the nociceptive system.
In her project, Nordgreen used Atlantic salmon, goldfish and rainbow trout. Her research showed that noxious galvanic stimulation elicited activity in the Atlantic salmon telecephalon.
In another experiment, the goldfish showed escape responses when the temperature exceeded 38 degrees C, which is within the temperature range that is deadly to goldfish.
This suggests that the ability to respond to harmful point heat is a conserved feature among vertebrates, said a release of Norwegian School.
The third experiment mapped the metabolism of morphine in Atlantic salmon and goldfish. It was found that they metabolise and secrete morphine more slowly than humans, and that the morphine in small extent reaches the brain of the fish.
It was shown that the elimination half life of morphine was approximately one order of magnitude higher than in humans for both species.
