Abstract
The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of astaxanthin on growth performance, biochemical parameters, ROS production, and immune-related gene expressions of the pufferfish (Takifugu obscurus) under high temperature stress. The experimental basal diets supplemented with astaxanthin at the rates of 0 (control), 20, 40, 80, 160, and 320 mg kg−1 were fed to fish for 8 weeks. The results showed that the fish fed diet with 80, 160, and 320 mg kg−1 astaxanthin significantly improved weight gain and specific growth rate. Furthermore, fish fed the moderate dietary astaxanthin increased plasma alkaline phosphatase activities, and decrease plasma aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase activities. After the feeding trial, the fish were exposed to high temperature stress for 48 h. The results shown that astaxanthin could suppress ROS production induced by high temperature stress. Meanwhile, compared with the control group, the astaxanthin groups increased SOD, CAT, and HSP70 mRNA levels under high temperature stress. These results showed that the basal diet supplemented with 80–320 mg kg−1 astaxanthin could enhance growth, nonspecific immune responses, and antioxidant defense system and improve resistance against high temperature stress in pufferfish.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by Special Funds for Fish Diseases of Guangdong Province (2015-352 and 2016-302), Marine Fisheries Technology and Industry Development Special Projects of Guangdong Province (A201501B14), Marine Fisheries Science and Technology Extension Projects of Guangdong Province (B201601-11), Science and Technology Projects of Guangdong Province (2014B040404057), and Hainan Applied Technology Research and Development and Demonstration Projects (ZDXM2015025).
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Cheng, CH., Guo, ZX., Ye, CX. et al. Effect of dietary astaxanthin on the growth performance, non-specific immunity, and antioxidant capacity of pufferfish (Takifugu obscurus) under high temperature stress. Fish Physiol Biochem 44, 209–218 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-017-0425-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10695-017-0425-5