Application of herbal anaesthetics in aquaculture

Abstract

Anaesthesia is a widely used tool in fish handling, sampling and surgery in aquaculture; thus, fish anaesthesiology has been studied for a long time. In this case, there are several common anaesthetics in aquaculture, namely tricaine methanesulfonate (a chemical agent) and clove oil (a natural agent). Recently, there was an increasing interest to use herbal materials (other than clove oil) in fish anaesthesia. In this review, current knowledge about the use of herbal anaesthetics has been summarized. To date, essential oils/extracts of different plants have been studied for fish anaesthesia; most of them belong to Lamiaceae, Verbenaceae, Lauraceae and Myrtaceae. In addition, menthol, linalool, myrcene, cineole, globulol, spathulenol, guaiol, caryophyllene oxide, terpinen-4-ol and dehydrofukinone are herbal compounds that their anaesthetic effects have been studied in fish. Compared with clove oil and eugenol as the most common herbal anaesthetic, all tested herbal materials are less efficacious to anaesthetize fish. Some plants' essential oil/extract, namely Aloysia triphylla, Myrcia sylvatica, Lippia alba and Curcuma longa, have beneficial health effects including suppression of physiological and oxidative stress. There is a lack of data in mechanism of anaesthesia and health effects of the herbal anaesthetics, which should be followed in future studies. In addition, most of the current studies have focused on certain fish species such as silver catfish (Rhamdia quelen), tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum) and common carp (Cyprinus carpio), and in most of the studies, essential oils/extracts of South American plants have been used. Thus, there is a need to study other fish and plant species.

Change in blood stress and antioxidant markers and hydromineral balance of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) anaesthetized with citronellal and linalool: Comparison with eugenol

“…These concentrations were chosen based on preliminary test as mentioned before (Yousefi, Hoseinifar, et al, ). The eugenol group served as control, because of the popularity of this anaesthetic in aquaculture (Hoseini et al, ) and because of the stress‐responsiveness nature of carp making it impossible to sample the fish without immobilization (Yousefi, Hoseinifar, et al, ). The remaining fish (18 tanks) were exposed to 10 and 20 mg/L of either citronellal, linalool or eugenol for 3 hr, before blood sampling [three tanks per treatment, Yousefi, Hoseinifar, et al ()].…”

“…As herbal anaesthesia (essential oils, extract and isolated compounds) are believed to be more healthier and cheaper than synthetic drugs, the use of them would be the appropriate alternative (Hoseini et al, ). These substances may have antioxidant and stress‐relieving effects on fish (Yousefi, Hoseinifar, Ghelichpour, & Hoseini, ).…”

“…Tricaine methanesulfonate, clove oil and 2-phenoxyethanol are the most-used anaesthetics in aquaculture (Hoseini, Rajabiesterabadi, & Tarkhani, 2015;Stoskopf & Posner, 2008). Particularly, clove oil and its ingredient eugenol are very popular fish anaesthetics in research and field; in fact it is the most-studied herbal anaesthetic in fish (Hoseini, Taheri Mirghaed, & Yousefi, 2018).…”

Effects of dietary myrcene administration on antioxidant gene responses in common carp ( Cyprinus carpio ), exposed to copper sulphate

“…Herbal products contain compounds with different chemical properties that produce antioxidant effects. The levels of these compounds depend on different factors such as the plant age and geographical region, and extraction method (Hoseini, Taheri Mirghaed, & Yousefi, ). Therefore, some researchers tried to use pure active ingredients of the plants, instead of their extracts.…”

“…Myrcene is an acyclic polyunsaturated monoterpene found in essential oil of several plants including Spilanthes acmella , Cannabis sativa , Humulus lupulus , Houttuynia emeiensis and Houttuynia cordata (Hoseini, Taheri Mirghaed, et al, ). It was found efficacious antioxidant in mammals, which stimulates antioxidant enzymes and suppresses oxidative stress (Ciftci, Ozdemir, Tanyildizi, Yildiz, & Oguzturk, ; Ciftci, Oztanir, & Cetin, ).…”