Probiotics and immunity: A fish perspective
- S.K. Nayak
- Laboratory of Fish Pathology, Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University, Japan
Received 6 November 2009, Revised 12 February 2010, Accepted 19 February 2010, Available online 26 February 2010
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fsi.2010.02.017
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Abstract
Probiotics are usually live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefits on host. Nowadays, probiotics are also becoming an integral part of the aquaculture practices to obtain high production. The common probiotics that are used for aquaculture practices include
Lactobacillus,
Lactococcus,
Leuconostoc,
Enterococcus,
Carnobacterium,
Shewanella,
Bacillus,
Aeromonas,
Vibrio,
Enterobacter,
Pseudomonas,
Clostridium, and
Saccharomyces species. The involvement of probiotics in nutrition, disease resistance and other beneficial activities in fish has proven beyond any doubt.
Among the numerous health benefits attributed to probiotics, modulation of immune system is one of the most commonly purported benefits of the probiotics and their potency to stimulate the systemic and local immunity under
in vitro and
in vivo conditions is noteworthy. Different probiotics either monospecies or multispecies supplementation can eventually elevate phagocytic, lysozyme, complement, respiratory burst activity as well as expression of various cytokines in fish.
Similarly, probiotics can stimulate the gut immune system of fish with marked increase in the number of Ig+ cells and acidophilic granulocytes. Furthermore, mono-bacterial association studies (with non-probiotic bacterial strains) in gnotobiotic fish also indicate the up-regulation of various immune related genes. Though the exact mode of action of probiotics is yet to be established in any animal including fish, probiotics often exert host specific and strain specific differences in their activities.
Various factors like source, type, dose and duration of supplementation of probiotics can significantly affect the immunomodulatory activity of probiotics. The review is therefore, aiming to highlight the immunomodulatory activity of probiotics and also to evaluate the factors that regulate for the optimum induction of immune responses in fish.
End Quote
The kidney and spleen make antibodies specifically built to fight each particular antigen (invading disease). This process can take up to two weeks. The antibodies attach themselves to their antigen and fight it in one of three ways:
- Detoxify it – so that white blood cells can ingest and destroy it
- Attract a “compliment” – another blood component that helps destroy the antigen
- Deactivate reproduction – to stop the antigen proliferating
As in all immune systems, a familiar antigen is dealt with quicker than a new one. The system reacts quicker, antibodies already exist and they multiply extremely quickly upon contact with their antigen. This is the same principle used in vaccination, where a detoxified antigen is introduced to allow a fish time to build appropriate antibodies without danger. If the full-blown disease is encountered later, the immune system can gear-up much faster and survival chances are increased.
It is important to note that environmental pollution also hampers the immune system and reduces a fish’s response to pathogens.
Immunology of Fish
Thelma C Fletcher, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
Christopher J Secombes, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
Published online: November 2015
DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0000520.pub3
Quote:
Abstract
Innate immunity provides some form of defence against pathogens in all multicellular organisms but with cartilaginous and bony fish, although the lowest group of jawed vertebrates, the addition of a classic adaptive immune response becomes apparent. This provides the refinements of specificity for antigen recognition and memory. The T and B lymphocytes are the effector leucocytes, acquiring their antigen‐specific receptors (immunoglobulin for B cells and T‐cell receptor for T cells) in the anterior kidney (bone marrow being absent) and thymus. The B cells are responsible for the production of antibodies that function as different immunoglobulin classes, whereas subsets of T lymphocytes are capable of killing target cells or helping with B‐ and other T‐cell functions. Knowledge of these mechanisms is important for the use and design of vaccines, now so essential for the aquaculture industry, whereas studies of fish immunology contribute to the understanding of the evolution of adaptive immunity.