甘草总黄酮对高脂条件下罗非鱼肝损伤的保护作用

为了研究甘草总黄酮对高脂饲料造成的罗非鱼(Oreochromis niloticus)脂肪肝损伤是否具有保护作用,随机将180尾健康无伤罗非鱼分成6组,即对照组、高脂饲料模型组和4个不同浓度甘草总黄酮组(0.05、0.10、0.50、1.00 g·kg^-1甘草总黄酮),每组30尾。饲喂90 d后,采集罗非鱼各实验组肝,测定肝匀浆中超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)活性、还原型谷胱甘肽(GSH)活性、丙二醛(MDA)含量、甘油三酯(TG)含量、总胆固醇(TC)含量、总抗氧化能力(T-AOC)水平,Western blotting法检测肝中核转录因子-κB P65(NF-κB P65)和核转录因子-κB C-Rel (NF-κB C-Rel)蛋白表达水平,RT-PCR法测定肝中微粒体甘油三酸酯转移蛋白(MTTP)和载脂蛋白B100(ApoB100)基因表达情况。结果表明:与对照组相比,高脂饲料模型组罗非鱼肝匀浆中TG、TC、MDA含量极显著(P<0.01)升高,GSH活性、SOD活性、T-AOC水平均极显著(P<0.01)降低;MTTP和ApoB100 mRNA表达水平降低(P<0.01或P<0.05);Western blotting结果显示,NF-κB P 65和C-Rel蛋白表达水平升高。饲料中加入甘草总黄酮后,与高脂饲料模型组相比,罗非鱼肝中GSH活性、SOD活性、T-AOC水平不同程度提高,TC、TG、MDA含量和NF-κB P65、C-Rel蛋白表达水平不同程度降低,MTTP和ApoB100的mRNA表达水平升高,以0.50 g·kg^-1甘草总黄酮组效果较好。说明甘草总黄酮对于罗非鱼脂肪肝损伤具有一定的保护作用,可以缓解高脂饲料造成的脂肪肝损伤。     

The nature and consequences of co-infections in tilapia: A review

Co-infections commonly arise when two or multiple different pathogens infect the same host, either as simultaneous or as secondary concurrent infection. This potentiates their pathogenic effects and leads to serious negative consequences on the exposed host. Numerous studies on the occurrence of the bacterial, parasitic, fungal and viral co-infections were conducted in various tilapia species. Co-infections have been associated with serious negative impacts on susceptible fish because they increase the fish susceptibility to diseases and the likelihood of outbreaks in the affected fish. Co-infections can alter the disease course and increase the severity of disease through synergistic and, more rarely, antagonistic interactions. In this review, reports on the synergistic co-infections and their impacts on the affected tilapia species are highlighted. Additionally, their pathogenic mechanisms are briefly discussed. Tilapia producers should be aware of the possible occurrence of co-infections and their effects on the affected tilapia species and in particular of the clinical signs and course of the disease. To date, there is still limited information regarding the pathogenicity mechanisms and pathogen interactions during these co-infections. This is generally due to low awareness regarding co-infections, and in many cases, a dominant pathogen is perceived to be of vital importance and hence becomes the target of treatment while the treatment of the co-infectious agents is neglected. This review article aimed at raising awareness regarding co-infections and helping researchers and fish health specialists pay greater attention to these natural cases, leading to increased research and more consistent diagnosis of co-infectious outbreaks in order to improve control strategies to protect tilapia when infected with multiple pathogens.     

Two-year surveillance of tilapia lake virus (TiLV) reveals its wide circulation in tilapia farms and hatcheries from multiple districts of Bangladesh

Tilapia lake virus (TiLV) is an emerging pathogen in aquaculture, reportedly affecting farmed tilapia in 16 countries across multiple continents. Following an early warning in 2017 that TiLV might be widespread, we executed a surveillance programme on tilapia grow-out farms and hatcheries from 10 districts of Bangladesh in 2017 and 2019. Among farms experiencing unusual mortality, eight out of 11 farms tested positive for TiLV in 2017, and two out of seven tested positive in 2019. Investigation of asymptomatic broodstock collected from 16 tilapia hatcheries revealed that six hatcheries tested positive for TiLV. Representative samples subjected to histopathology confirmed pathognomonic lesions of syncytial hepatitis. We recovered three complete genomes of TiLV from infected fish, one from 2017 and two from 2019. Phylogenetic analyses based on both the concatenated coding sequences of 10 segments and only segment 1 consistently revealed that Bangladeshi TiLV isolates formed a unique cluster within Thai clade, suggesting a close genetic relation. In summary, this study revealed the circulation of TiLV in 10 farms and six hatcheries located in eight districts of Bangladesh. We recommend continuing TiLV-targeted surveillance efforts to identify contaminated sources to minimize the countrywide spread and severity of TiLV infection.     

Dietary nucleotides enhance growth performance,feed efficiency and intestinal functional topography in European Seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax)

Nucleotides, nucleosides and nucleic acids (NU) have many critical functions in supporting life and increasing evidence suggests that exogenous supply can benefit the health of mammals and fish. For these reasons, a 6‐week feeding trial was conducted on juvenile European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) with diets containing 0%, 0.15% and 0.3% inclusion of a NU mixture (Laltide^®) derived from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. At the end of the study no significant differences were found in fish performance, although a tendency towards better performance was indicated in fish fed the Nu0.3 diet. In relation to histological assessment, a significantly greater perimeter ratio; internal to outer (IP/OP) was observed in the posterior intestine of fish fed supplemental NU. Microvilli heights in the posterior intestine were also shown to be significantly promoted in fish fed NU diets (p < 0.05). Goblet cell abundance was shown to be unaffected by the inclusion of NU in the diet (p > 0.05). Overall, this study indicates that orally administered NU may be effective promoters of gut functional topography with marginal associated improvements to fish performance. Nonetheless, longer exposure and/or commercial scale application, and in diets that were challenging in use of high inclusion levels of plant by‐products would potentially amplify improvements in production characteristics, in turn benefiting fish culturists.     

Effects of dietary protein levels on the activity of the digestive enzyme of albino and normal Apostichopus japonicus (Selenka)

We evaluated the effects of different proportions of dietary protein (5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30% protein) on the activity of digestive enzymes of normal and albino Apostichopus japonicus. The experimental diets were fed for 60 days, the optimal conditions for digestive enzyme activity in sea cucumbers were studied. The optimal temperature for protease was 29.3°C and the optimal pH was 1.8. The optimal temperature for amylase was 34.3°C and the optimal pH was 6.7. The optimal temperature for cellulase was 56°C and the optimal pH was 5.9. The activity of intestinal protease increased at first and then decreased as the proportion of dietary protein increased, reaching the maximum when the proportion of protein was 19.7%. The activity of protease in the intestine of normal sea cucumber was significantly lower than that of albino sea cucumber, and the activity of amylase was significantly higher than that of albino sea cucumber. This study is expected to provide a basis for further explaining the ecological difference of albino and normal A. japonicus.     

食积胃肠积热动物模型的探索与评价

目的 探索高热量饲料灌胃大鼠制备食积胃肠积热动物模型的方法，并对其进行评价。方法 将幼龄SD大鼠分为正常组与模型组，采用高热量饲料灌胃的方法建立食积胃肠积热模型。采集大鼠宏观表征，检测代谢指标，进行食积胃肠积热的诊断及考证；取大鼠结肠组织，做HE染色，观察大鼠肠组织炎症情况，并以免疫组化法观察大鼠结肠NF-kB p65的表达。结果 与正常组相比，模型组大鼠体态消瘦、体质量增加缓慢、攻击性较强、饮食量降低（P<0.01）、排便时间有延长趋势（P>0.05）、排便量降低（P<0.01）；病理示大鼠结肠黏膜层变薄，杯状细胞数量减少，黏膜下固有层局部充血、水肿、纤维增生，结肠黏膜NF-κB p65呈弥漫性分布，为深棕黄色粗颗粒，有向固有层扩散趋势。模型表征与小儿食积临床诊断要点具有一定符合度，符合食积胃肠积热成模标准。结论 高热量饲料灌胃大鼠制备食积动物模型符合中医学胃肠积热特点。     

Detection of Frozen-Thawed Cycles for Frozen Tilapia (Oreochromis) Fillets Using Near Infrared Spectroscopy

Due to the ambient temperature fluctuation during the process of storage, transportation, and sale, frozen fillets may go through frozen-thawed cycles that result in quality changes. In order to detect the frozen-thawed cycles in frozen tilapia fillets, near infrared spectroscopy was applied. The thawing loss, cooking loss, moisture content, total volatile basic nitrogen, and texture profile of fillets in seven frozen-thawed cycles were analyzed to reflect the change of quality. A total of 60 fillets were used to collect the spectra on both dorsal and belly flesh in frozen and thawed state from the first to the seventh cycle. The results showed that there is a better discrimination among the once and the repeated frozen-thawed samples in the frozen state than the thawed state. Frozen samples were still conducive to the differentiation and had higher classification accuracy, ranging from 80% to 93.33%. Dorsal flesh was more beneficial for the differentiation than belly flesh and had the highest accuracy, ranging from 86.67% to 93.33% in the frozen state. These results showed that the nondestructive and fast detection of repeated frozen-thawed cycles in frozen tilapia fillets can be accomplished by near infrared spectroscopy, which has enormous potential for practical application.     

Stable isotope analysis to quantify contributions of supplementary feed in Nile Tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (GIFT strain) aquaculture

Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) is currently one of the most farmed freshwater fish and contributes significantly to total global aquaculture production. The genetically improved strain of O. niloticus (GIFT) was introduced to Papua New Guinea (PNG) in 1999 to improve food and income security. The high cost and low availability of commercial fish feed hinder the growth of GIFT farming in PNG. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes were used to determine the role of supplementary and natural food sources in the diet of GIFT in pond‐based aquaculture. Two treatments were used: treatment 1 was daily feeding, and treatment 2 was weekly feeding, each with three replicates. Isotopic analysis of muscle tissue and all potential food sources showed that pellet feed contributed 7% to the growth of GIFT in daily‐fed ponds and 33% in the weekly‐fed ponds. Highly enriched δ¹⁵N values for chicken manure, compared to depleted values for GIFT and other natural food sources in both treatments, clearly indicate insignificant contributions of this input to production. After 90 days of cultivation, the average final body weight of GIFT receiving daily feed inputs was 134 g (average 19 cm), while for weekly‐fed it was 92 g (17 cm). The feed conversion ratio (FCR) was poor (6.4:1) in the daily‐fed GIFT ponds compared to a better, and preferable, FCR (1:1) in the weekly‐fed ponds. The findings of this study show that pelleted feed was not the major contributor to the growth of GIFT. Genetically improved farmed tilapia aquaculture should focus on enhancing natural food availability for fish production.     

Evaluation of replacing fish meal with corn protein concentrate in Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus fingerlings commercial diet

Four isocaloric‐isonitrogenous diets containing 0, 50, 100 and 190 g/kg corn protein concentrate (CPC) as replacement for dietary fish meal were fed to Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus fingerlings for 8 weeks. Tilapia growth parameters were not significantly (p > .05) different in fish fed diets with 0, 50 and 100 g/kg CPC and found to be superior compared to those fed on 190 g/kg CPC. Fish dressing ratios and body composition were similar among all treatments. The electron microscope indicated that the stomach size of control fish was slightly smaller and the wall was thinner while the stomach of the fish fed all other levels of CPC undergone a remarkable size increase and their walls were thicker after feeding diets with CPC. Total aerobic bacterial and coliform counts were significantly decreased in fish intestine when fed diets with 100 and 190 g/kg CPC compared with fish fed diets with 0 g/kg or 50 g/kg CPC. This study indicates that it is possible to replace up to 534 g/kg of dietary fish meal in tilapia fingerlings using 100 g/kg of CPC without any negative effect on fish growth and proximate body composition.     

Characterization of bacteriophage HN48 and its protective effects in Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus against Streptococcus agalactiae infections

Streptococcus agalactiae is a causative agent responsible for massive mortalities of tilapia that has led to catastrophic losses to tilapia culture globally. Bacteriophages represent a new class of antimicrobials against bacteria. In this study, we characterized the bacteriophage HN48, which formed small and round‐transparent plaques on a double‐layer plate. With a hexagonal head and a long tail, this phage may belong to the Caudovirales according to the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. HN48 was found to have a relatively wide and highly specific host range, to be sensitive to high temperature (60–80°C) and low pH (3–5), and to be relatively stable at alkaline pH (8–10). Intraperitoneal injection with HN48 had no adverse effects on tilapia and effectively inactivated the bacteria in the kidney. Fish that received phage therapy had 60% ± 3.3% survival rates and a delayed mean death time of about 3 days when compared to the control group. To the best of knowledge, this is the first study of tilapia streptococcal phage. Overall, the results indicated that phage HN48 could prevent tilapia from experimental S. agalactiae infection, suggesting it has the potential to control this disease.