The effect of stress on the immune response of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) fed diets containing different amounts of vitamin C

An experiment was performed to determine the effects of dietary vitamin C levels and stress on immunological parameters in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.). Atlantic salmon parr were maintained on diets containing 0.082 (low), 0.44 (normal) and 3.17 (high) g vitamin C/kg dry diet. After 23 weeks, tissue levels were found to reflect dietary input. Groups of fish were removed and subjected to a 2 h confinement stress prior to sacrifice and isolation of plasma and head kidney leucocytes. Leucocyte respiratory burst activity (P<0.01) and bactericidal activity (P<0.05) were both found to be significantly reduced by stress, but were unaffected by vitamin C status. Leucocyte migration was unaffected by stress or vitamin C status. Plasma bactericidal activity was also unaffected by vitamin C status but was significantly enhanced by stress (P<0.05). Production of specific antibody following immunisation with Aeromonas salmonicida was found to be significantly reduced (P<0.01) by stress, and there were significantly greater levels of specific antibody (P<0.01) in fish fed the low vitamin C diet compared with fish fed high levels of vitamin C.

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