Sterols and steroids in a freshwater crustacean ( Proasellus meridianus ): hormonal response to nutritional input

For crustaceans that eat shredded plant material in freshwater habitats, the amount and the composition of food greatly vary over time because of the seasonal succession of plant fragments and algal biomass. The acquisition of elements necessary for growth, immune defense, and reproduction depends largely on this variation in food type and availability. In particular, sterols that are required as cellular membrane components and as precursors of ecdysteroids (molting hormones) must be acquired through food because crustaceans do not synthesize the steroid nucleus de novo . The present study examined the possible link between nutrition, sterols, and ecdysteroids in an isopod, Proasellus meridianus . In a first step, quantitative and qualitative analyses of sterols of P. meridianus were performed by gas‐chromatography/mass spectrometry. The results suggested that members of P. meridianus are able to convert dietary plant sterols into cholesterol required for growth and reproduction. In a second step, by manipulating food availability and using an enzyme immuno‐assay, we showed that ecdysteroid content in males and females (ovigerous or not) of P. meridianus decreased significantly after a starvation period. A nutritional input following this starvation period triggered an increase in the ecdysteroid contents of these animals. The comparable ecdysteroid responses to food pulses in males and females suggested that a nutritional control on steroid hormones regulated growth or gametogenesis rather than egg maturation. Thus, it appears that P. meridianus possesses an efficient stop‐and‐go endocrine system that may have been selectively favored in response to seasonal pulses of food.