DOI: 10.5061/dryad.1ns1rn91z
title: Coronary Circulation Enhances the Aerobic Performance of Wild Pacific Salmon

description: Female Pacific salmon often experience higher mortality than males during
 their once-in-a-lifetime up-river spawning migration, particularly when
 exposed to secondary stressors (e.g. high temperatures). However, the
 underlying mechanisms remain unknown. One hypothesis is that female
 Pacific salmon hearts are more oxygen-limited than males and are less able
 to supply oxygen to the body’s tissues during this demanding migration.
 Notably, female hearts have higher coronary blood flow, which could
 indicate a greater reliance on this oxygen source. Oxygen limitations can
 develop from naturally occurring coronary blockages (i.e., coronary
 arteriosclerosis) found in mature salmon hearts. If female hearts rely
 more heavily on coronary blood flow but experience similar
 arteriosclerosis levels as males, they will have disproportionately
 impaired aerobic performance. To test this hypothesis, we measured resting
 (RMR) and maximum metabolic rate (MMR), aerobic scope (AS) and acute upper
 thermal tolerance in coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) with an intact or
 artificially blocked coronary oxygen supply. We also assessed venous blood
 oxygen and chemistry (cortisol, ions, and metabolite concentrations) at
 different time intervals during recovery from exhaustive exercise. We
 found that coronary blockage impaired MMR, AS, and the partial pressure of
 oxygen in venous blood (PvO2) during exercise recovery but did not differ
 between sexes. Coronary ligation lowered acute upper thermal tolerance by
 1.1°C. Though we did not find evidence of enhanced female reliance on
 coronary supply, our findings highlight the importance of coronary blood
 supply for mature wild salmon, where migration success may be linked to
 cardiac performance, particularly during warm water conditions.
description: Adult coho salmon (<em>Oncorhynchus kisutch</em>)
 were collected at Chilliwack Hatchery, British Columbia, Canada and fish
 were held at Cultus Lake Laboratory for experiments. See publication for
 methodology details. 
description: # Van Wert et al 2024 # Coronary circulation enhances the aerobic
 performance of wild Pacific salmon ## Description of the Data and file
 structure Author Information A. Principal Investigator Contact Information
 Name: Dr. Erika Eliason or Jacey Van Wert Institution: University of
 California, Santa Barbara Email:
 [eliason@ucsb.edu](mailto:eliason@ucsb.edu),
 [jcvanwert@gmail.com](mailto:jcvanwert@gmail.com) B. Corresponding Author
 Contact Information Name: Jacey Van Wert Institution: University of
 California, Santa Barbara Email:
 [jcvanwert@gmail.com](mailto:jcvanwert@gmail.com) Date range of data
 collection (single date, range, approximate date): Oct - Nov 2019
 Geographic location of data collection: Cultus Lake Laboratory,
 Chilliwack, BC, Canada Information about funding sources that supported
 the collection of the data: This work was supported by the US National
 Science Foundation [Graduate Research Fellowship support to JCV]; the
 Swedish Research Council [2018-00516 to AE]; the University of California,
 Santa Barbara [Faculty Research Grant to EJE]; Natural Sciences and
 Engineering Research Council of Canada [Collaborative Research Development
 Grant to SGH; Discovery Grant to SGH and SJC]; Department of Fisheries and
 Oceans Canada [Environmental Watch Program to DAP]. File List: *
 VanWert_etal_2024_coho_metabolism.csv - contains all fish id's with
 morphology and metabolism metrics * VanWert_etal_2024_coho_pvo2.csv -
 contains all fish id's with blood partial pressure of venous oxygen
 at various sampling timepoints * VanWert_etal_2024_coho_bloodchem.csv -
 contains all fish id's with blood chemistry at various sampling
 timepoints METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION 1. Description of methods used for
 collection/generation/processing of data: Please refer to the main
 manuscript for details regarding the methods used to collect and analyze
 this data. 2. People involved with sample collection, processing, analysis
 and/or submission:Jacey C. Van Wert, Andreas Ekström, Matthew J.H.
 Gilbert, Brian J. Hendriks, Steven J. Cooke, David A. Patterson, Scott G.
 Hinch and Erika J. Eliason DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR:
 VanWert_etal_2024_coho_metabolism.csv 1. Number of variables: 21 2. Number
 of cases/rows: 42 3. Variable List: id = unique fish ID weight_kg = body
 mass (kg) respo_vol_l = respirometer volume (l) treatment = sham operated
 (sham) or coronary ligated (ligated) sex = male (m) or female (f)
 premature_euth_pre_ctmax = whether fish was euthanized before reaching the
 beginning of the ctmax test due to indications of bleeding from the
 cannula with y = yes, n = no adipose = whether adipose fin is present or
 not, clipped indicates hatchery origin with y = yes, n = no heart_g = wet
 ventricle mass (g) liver_g = wet liver mass (g) gonad_g = wet gonad mass
 (g) spleen_g = wet spleen mass (g) fork_cm = fork length (cm)
 percent_compact = percent compact myocardium that comprises the
 ventricle(%) ctmax = critical thermal maximum temperature (CTmax) (ramping
 rate specified in publication) in Celsius rbc_ctmax = red blood cell
 proportion measured at CTmax mmr = maximum metabolic rate (mg O2 / kg/min)
 rmr = resting metabolic rate (mg O2 / kg/min) aas = absolute aerobic scope
 measured by mmr-rmr (mg O2 / kg/min) fas = factorial aerobic scope
 measured by mmr/rmr (unitless) epoc = excess post oxygen consumption
 (mg/kg), calculated as the area under the curve until reaching rmr, minus
 the area under rmr epoc_dur = duration of epoc (min) DATA-SPECIFIC
 INFORMATION FOR: VanWert_etal_2024_coho_pvo2.csv 1. Number of variables: 5
 2. Number of cases/rows: 206 3. Variable List: fish_id = unique fish ID
 treatment = sham operated (sham) or coronary ligated (ligated) sex = male
 (m) or female (f) timepoint = time at which partial pressure of venous
 oxygen (pvo2) was sampled; with time0 immediately after the exhaustive
 chase, time15 15 min after chase, time60 60 min after chase, rest at 18 h
 after chase with minimal disturbances, and ctmax immediately after ctmax
 trial pvo2_torr = partial pressure of oxygen (torr) associated with the
 sampling timepoint and fish_id DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR:
 VanWert_etal_2024_coho_bloodchem.csv 1. Number of variables: 10 2. Number
 of cases/rows: 206 3. Variable List: fish_id = unique fish ID treatment =
 sham operated (sham) or coronary ligated (ligated) sex = male (m) or
 female (f) timepoint = time at which blood was sampled; with 0 immediately
 after the exhaustive chase, 15 min after chase, 60 min after chase, rest
 at 18 h after chase with minimal disturbances, and ctmax immediately after
 ctmax trial glucose_mmol_l = plasma glucose (mmol/l) lactate_mmol_l =
 plasma lactate (mmol/l) na_mmol_l = plasma sodium (mmol/l) k_mmol_l =
 plasma potassium (mmol/l) cortisol_ng_ml = plasma cortisol (ng/ml) ht =
 mean of plasma hematocrit (%) ## Sharing/access Information 1.
 Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: N/A 2. Links to publications
 that cite or use the data: N/A 3. Links to other publicly accessible
 locations of the data: N/A 4. Links/relationships to ancillary data sets:
 N/A 5. Was data derived from another source? No