Immune and Antioxidant Enzyme Response of Longfin Yellowtail (Seriola rivoliana) Juveniles to Ultra-diluted Substances Derived from Phosphorus, Silica and Pathogenic Vibrio

Abstract

Background This research aimed to observe the effect of homeopathic treatments prepared from Vibrio parahaemolyticus and V. alginolyticus (H1) and commercial homeopathic medication Phosphoricum acidum and Silicea terra (H2) on the immune and antioxidant response in Seriola rivoliana juveniles under usual culture conditions and challenged with V. parahaemolyticus. Materials and Methods Quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis was used to study changes in the expression of key genes related to immune response, cytokines (interleukin-1β [IL-1β]), adapter protein for cytokine release (MyD88) and piscidin and spectrophotometric techniques to analyze the activity of antioxidant superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) enzymes in Seriola rivoliana juveniles at 30 (weaning stage [WS]) and 60 (early juveniles [EJ]) days post-hatching. Results The H1 treatment led to over-expression of the IL-1β and MyD88 genes in fish at WS and EJ with respect to control, contrary to the H2 treatment that led to under-expression of the IL-1β, MyD88 and piscidin genes at the EJ stage. In fish challenged with V. parahaemolyticus, both H1 and H2 led to over-expression of IL-1β and MyD88; H2 caused an over-expression of piscidin. The SOD activity was higher in H1 with respect to H2 and the control group. CAT remained relatively stable with both H1 and H2 treatments. Conclusions The results suggest that the overall effect of H1 was due to the presence of unknown antigens in low concentrations, while the response to H2—specifically during challenge—may have been due to a stimulating effect of nano-structures, prevailing from mother tincture after sequential dilution/succussion, in a pathway similar to that attributed to nano-vaccines.

Transcriptome analysis of Catarina scallop (Argopecten ventricosus) juveniles treated with highly-diluted immunomodulatory compounds reveals activation of non-self-recognition system

“…In this study, HDIC regulated transcripts associated to recognition of non-self-molecules and internalisation of particles suggested that HDIC were not able to trigger all the immune response mechanisms due their high dilution. This result may explain those [61] in organisms of S. rivoliana treated with HDIC where only the genes IL-1β and MyD88 up-regulate before the challenge with V. parahaemolyticus. The results in this study suggested that the non-self-recognition system activation by effect of HDIC improved the response against infections.…”

“…The effectiveness of the use of HDIC in bivalves to improve their survival against pathogen infection challenges has been widely demonstrated, our work team has proven that the application of HDIC formulated with scorpion venom, Phosphoric acid1, Silicea terra1, sodium metasilicate and Vibrio lysate (V. alginoliticus-V. parahemolityics) strengthened marine organisms (bivalves, fish and shrimp) self-defense, allowing them to survive infection challenges, reduce parasite proliferation, increase energy reserves and growth; even some of them outperformed antibiotics when they were used prophylactically in A. ventricosus culture [20,21,61,62].…”

“…The efficiency of these HDIC to protect marine organisms against infections has been attributed to increases of the antioxidant system response, haemocyte count, energetic reserves and enzymes related to food assimilation [20,21,63]. Furthermore, attenuated V. splendidus cells activated the immune response in the scallop Argopecten purpuratus [18] and micro-sized silica [64], phosphorus [65] and toxins [66] activating antioxidant response, which allowed organisms to face pathogen infections by promoting free radical eradication.…”

Interaction between Solvatochromic Dyes and Water Sampled from a Natural Source Treated with High Dilutions of Phosphorus

“…23,40,41 The studies described above have all been performed under highly controlled conditions, using milliliter volumes of liquids, as is usually the case in laboratory-based work. Considering that highly diluted preparations are also used in agriculture and on large farms devoted to cattle, broiler, and fish breeding, [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] the question then arises: could these dilutions also be effective in much larger water volumes? Empirical observations indicate that the addition of high diluted products to drinking and irrigation water sources can spread the action of such dilutions over large farm areas and cause specific effects in substantial numbers of individual animals at the same time.…”

“…23 Discovering if solvatochromic dyes are sensitive enough to detect changes in the polarity of large water volumes would be a critical step in evaluating the plausibility of using high dilutions in many field situations, such as environmental management, 24 organic agriculture 25 and in herd, broiler, and fish breeding, with a view to improving productivity. [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34] The aim of the current study was to explore whether the solvatochromic dye methylene violet (MV) could be used as a molecular detector of high dilutions in large water reservoirs, using phosphorus 30cH as a seeding solution.…”