Increased immunoglobulin production in silver catfish (Rhamdia quelen) exposed to agrichemicals

Abstract

Fish vaccination has been increasingly exploited as a tool to control pathogen infection. The production of immunoglobulin following vaccination might be affected by several factors such as management procedures, water temperature, and the presence of xenobiotics. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the kinetics of immunoglobulin production in silver catfish (Rhamdia quelen) inoculated with inactivated Aeromonas hydrophila and kept at two different water temperatures (17.4±0.4° or 21.3±0.3°C). The effect of a second antigen inoculation and exposure of fish to sublethal concentrations of the herbicides atrazine and glyphosate at 10% of the lethal concentration (LC50-96h) on specific serum antibodies were also investigated. Antibodies to A. hydrophila were detected as early as 7 days post-inoculation and increased steadily up to 35 days. The kinetics of antibody production were similar in fish kept at 17.4±0.4° and 21.3±0.3°C, and reinoculation of antigen at 21 days after priming failed to increase specific antibody levels. Intriguingly, we found that, in fish exposed to atrazine and glyphosate, the secretion of specific antibodies was higher than in non-exposed inoculated fish. These findings are important for the design of vaccines and vaccination strategies in Neotropical fish species. However, because atrazine and glyphosate are widespread contaminants of soil and water, their immune-stimulating effect could be harmful, in that fish living in herbicide-contaminated water might have increased concentrations of nonspecific antibodies that could mediate tissue injury.

Immunomodulatory effects of dietary β-glucan in silver catfish (Rhamdia quelen)

“…During the acclimatization period (7 days) and up to the end of the experiments, fish were kept in self-cleaning tanks containing 1000L of continuously running water, protected from direct sun light, and fed a commercial pelleted feed containing 42% protein. Water conditions were within the expected values, as previously reported (Kreutz et al 2014). For inoculations and blood sampling, fish were anesthetized with clove oil (50mg/L -Sigma, Brazil).…”

The impact and toxicity of glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides on health and immunity

“…When common carp were exposed for 7 days to a glyphosate-POEA mixture, the mRNA levels of IgM (primary antibody type in fish; Secombes and Wang 2012) were lower as compared to in controls after 24 h; IgM protein contents were also lower at every timepoint, suggesting that antibody-mediated immunity became less efficient . In contrast, Kreutz et al (2014) noted an unexpected increase in the immunoglobulin concentrations in silver catfish exposed to glyphosate and then challenged with an inactivated form of Aeromonas hydrophila. While the studies above suggested lymphocyte responses were deteriorated by exposures to glyphosate or GBHs, the surprising results from the Kreutz group indicated that more studies are needed to apprehend further the full impact of these agents on fish lymphocyte function.…”

The Toxic Effects of Glyphosate, Chlorpyrifos, Abamectin, and 2,4‐D on Animal Models: A Systematic Review of Brazilian Studies

“…These biochemical perturbations are accompanied by alterations in the metabolic and oxidative pathways (Loro et al 2015; Murussi et al 2016; Lopes et al 2017; Sobjak et al 2017; Persch et al 2018; Panetto et al 2019). In addition to these, genotoxic damage (Rodrigues et al 2019), hepatotoxicity (Santos et al 2017), histopathologic damage (Antunes et al 2017), immunotoxicity (Kreutz et al 2014), and alterations related to protein expression (Rocha et al 2015; Jaramillo et al 2017) were recorded in these studies with fish. In anuran tadpoles, it was demonstrated that glyphosate at 2 mg · L a.i.…”