Efficacy of the corn smut-made CTB oral vaccine on mucosal immune parameters in Pacific red snapper (Lutjanus peru) Article uri icon

abstract

  • Plant-made biopharmaceuticals are biotechnological valuable tools in aquaculture. Herein, the immunogenic potential of an oral corn smut (‘huitlacoche’)-made antigen (CS) was assessed in Pacific red snapper. The B subunit of the cholera toxin (CTB) was used as an immunostimulant antigen model due to its well-proven mucosal immunostimulatory activity. Test fish received corn smut-based CTB (CS-CTB) or wild-type (CS-WT) as control on day 1 and 7. Changes in humoral and cellular innate immune parameters were evaluated at 7 and 14 dpi (days post-first immunostimulation). Interestingly, total IgM and anti-CTB IgM levels in skin mucus increased in all the assessed time points in the group treated with CS-CTB. Peroxidase activity significantly increased in both serum and skin mucus from immunostimulated fish. The SOD and CAT activities were significantly increased in mucus from stimulated fish with the CS-CTB. The test fish that received CS-CTB showed enhanced phagocytic ability and radical production in head-kidney leukocytes compared with the control group. In addition, oral administration of CS-WT significantly increased the expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. These findings support the use of the corn smut as a biofactory and oral delivery vehicle of novel immunostimulants, such as CTB, for fish aquaculture. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.

publication date

  • 2019-01-01