The kinetics of the antibody production and the protection at challenge were studied in turbot inoculated with various scuticociliate antigen preparations: live ciliates putatively attenuated through long-term in vitro culture (Trial 1) and formalin-killed ciliates without or with GERBU adjuvant in Trials 2, 3, and 4. Antigen used in killed preparations was a mixture of 3 different ciliate isolates (V3) in the case of Trials 2 and 3, whereas in Trial 4, monovalent (V1), trivalent (V3) or pentavalent (V5) antigens were used. A booster injection was administered 28 to 29 d post-priming in all trials. Fish were challenged with virulent live ciliates after the immunization protocol, testing 2 challenge times in Trial 2 (t 1 and t 2 ). No protection was obtained in Trial 1 with live ciliates, which in turn were not completely attenuated. Using killed-ciliate formulations, protection was high only in Trial 3 when a low dose (50 000 ciliates fish -1 ) was used for challenge. In Trial 1, heat-inactivated sera of antigen-inoculated fish agglutinated the homologous ciliate, although no specific antibodies were detectable by ELISA. In contrast, high specific antibody levels were detected in antigen-inoculated fish in Trials 2 and 4, and their amount increased progressively, usually peaking after challenge. No advantage was obtained from the use of V5 antigens compared to V1 or V3. No good correlation was observed in most cases between serum antibody levels and protection. Although the use of GERBU adjuvant generally increased the specific immune response, some undesired side effects indicate a need to adjust dosage and/or improve the formulation.KEY WORDS: Ciliates · Scuticociliatia · Adjuvants · Antibodies · Immunization · Turbot · Psetta maxima
Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherDis Aquat Org 86: [123][124][125][126][127][128][129][130][131][132][133][134] 2009 The increasing frequency and severity of scuticociliatosis in turbot culture, with mortality reaching 60% in some infected stocks (authors' unpubl. data), has stressed the need to develop efficacious preventive and control strategies. Since no efficacious treatments are available, the implementation of immunoprophylactic measures seems an attractive option.Empirical data from field observations in affected farms indicate the acquisition of disease resistance in fish surviving scuticociliate epizootics, stimulating the search for a vaccine. Available information from small, laboratory-scale trials suggests partial protection against a challenge using formalin-killed vaccines in turbot (Iglesias et al. 2003, Sitjà-Bobadilla et al. 2008) and olive flounder (Jung et al. 2004). A recent report claimed quite good turbot protection using a killed adjuvanted vaccine . The search for adjuvants without the toxic side effects of mineral oils (Bowden et al. 2003, Singh & O'Hagan 2003 has led to a different family of products based on lipid microparticles, stabilized in aqueous phase by surfactants and sometimes in assoc...