Synne Marte Andersen PhD thesis from the University of Bergen/NIFES, is entitled: \'Interactions of arginine and polyamines on growth and metabolism in Atlantic salmon\'.

Two feeding trials were conducted, one in small salmon weighing five grams and one in bigger salmon weighing one kilo. Surplus arginine had a minor positive effect on the growth of the small salmon, which could be related to polyamines.

We also saw the increased expression of a genes that are important for fat metabolism in the liver. However, surplus arginine had no effect on growth or the distribution of muscle and fat mass in the adult salmon. This suggests that arginine does not have the same effect on salmon as has been proven in rodents and pigs. However, although arginine did not affect growth, it did affect the metabolic processes in the fish, which may be of significance to fish health and welfare. It was found through studying the liver cells of the salmon that arginine affected the glucose metabolism, among other things. No negative effects of the surplus arginine supplement were observed

[Source: NIFES. Read artile]