In vivo study of phagocytosis, intracellular survival and multiplication of Flavobacterium psychrophilum in rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), spleen phagocytes

The intracellular behaviour of a Flavobacterium psychrophilum strain, ingested by spleen phagocytes of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss , of different ages, was assessed in vivo . Three groups of rainbow trout weighing 1 g (aged 10 weeks), 25 g (aged 20 weeks) and 300 g (aged 15 months), respectively, were injected intraperitoneally with 1 × 10⁶ cfu of a F. psychrophilum strain. It was found that only fry, aged 10 weeks, displayed clinical signs and suffered mortality. Bacteriological colony plating of different organs demonstrated that the spleen and to a lesser extent the kidney of only the fry were affected. The number of colony forming units per gram of spleen tissue increased with time. No bacteria were found in the trout aged 5 months and older. Light microscopical examination and epifluorescence microscopy revealed that the fry spleen phagocytes contained an increasing number of viable intracellular F. psychrophilum bacteria over time. Again, no bacteria were encountered in the phagocytes collected from older fish.