Abstract
The disease resistance and humoral immunomodulatory effects of vitamin C administered orally to grouper,Epinephelus awoara maintained on a frozen fish diet supplemented with vitamin C at 500, 1000, 1500 and 2000 mg/kg were investigated. After 20 weeks, the growth rates of the groups with high level of vitamin C apparently increased. The untreated fish had symptoms of vitamin C deficiency. The endogenous liver tissue vitamin C levels were found to reflect well the dietary treatments. After intraperitoneal injection or bath challenge with a virulent strain ofVibrio vulnificus, fish fed with high level vitamin C showed significantly higher survival rate compared with the normal control group. Vaccination with formalin inactivatedV. vulnificus significantly enhanced the specific antibody production in fish treated with vitamin C, and completely protected from strong bacterial challenge the groups fed on fish with vitamin C 1500 and 2000 mg/kg diet.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Blazer, V. S., 1982. The effects of marginal deficiencies of ascorbic acid and alpha-tocopherol on the natural resistance and immune response of rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri). Ph. D. Dissertation, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI.
Dabrowski, K., 1990. Gulonolactone oxidase is missing in teleost fish. The direct spectrophotometric assay.Biol. Chem. Physiol. 89B: 539–544.
Durve, V. S., Lovell, R. T., 1982. Vitamin C and disease resistance in channel catfish (Ictalurus Punctatus).Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 39: 948–951.
Goldschmidt, M. C., Masin, W. J., Brown, L. R. et al., 1988. The effect of ascorbic acid deficiency on leucocyte phagocytosis and killing ofActinomyces viscosus.Int. J. Vitaminol. Nutr. Res. 58: 326–334.
Hardie, L. J., Fletcher, T. C., Secombes, C. J., 1991. The effect of dietary vitamin C on the immune response of the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.).Aquaculture 95: 201–214.
Li, Y., Lovell, R. T., 1985. Elevated levels of dietary ascorbic acid increase immune responses in channel catfish.J. Nutr. 115: 123–131.
Liu, X. Z., Zou, X. L., Mo, X. Y., 1994. The study on pathogenic bacteria in maricultured grouper (Epinephelus awoara).Tropic Oceanology 13(1): 81–86.
Navarre, O., Halver, J. E., 1989. Disease resistance and humoral antibody production in rainbow trout fed with high levels of vitamin C.Aquaculture 79: 207–221.
Panush, R. S., Delafuente, J. C., 1985. Vitamins and immunocompetence.World Rev. Nutr. Diet. 45: 97–123.
Qin, Q. W., Pan, J. P., 1996. Safety and efficacy ofVibrio vulnificus bacterins vaccination by injection administration against vibrosis inEpinephelus awoara.Tropic Oceanology 15(2): 7–12.
Qin, Q. W., Wu, Z. H., Pan, J. P., 1997. Double-Sandwich ELISA for detection of pathogenVibrio vulnificus in grouper,Epinephelus awoara.Nanhai Studia Marina Sinica 12: 224–230.
Roberson, B. S., 1990. Bacterial agglutination.In: J. S. Stolen, et al. (ed.), Techniques in fish immunology. Fair Haven, NJ 07704, SOS Publications.
Tucker, B. W., 1983. Studies on vitamin C metabolism in rainbow trout. Ph. D. Thesis, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
Tucker, B. W., Halver, J. E., 1984. Ascorbate-2-sulfate metabolism in fish.Nutr. Rev. 42: 73–74.
Tucker, B. W., Halver, J. E., 1986. Vitamin C metabolism in fish.Comp. Pathol Bull. 18: 1–6.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Project 39500113 supported by NSFC and also by Guangdong Science Research Foundation (Grant No. 950711).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Qi-wei, Q., Zao-he, W. & Jin-pei, P. Disease resistance and humoral immunomodulatory effects of vitamin C on grouper,Epinephelus awoara . Chin. J. Ocean. Limnol. 18, 247–252 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02842671
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02842671