Quercetin Application for Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio): I. Effects on Growth Performance, Humoral Immunity, Antioxidant Status, Immune-Related Genes, and Resistance against Heat Stress
Kobra Armobin, Ehsan Ahmadifar, Hossein Adineh, Mahsa Naderi Samani, Naser Kalhor, Sevdan Yılmaz, Seyed Hossein Hoseinifar, Hien Van Doan
Abstract
This study was done to evaluate the effect of different quercetin levels on growth performance, immune responses, antioxidant status, serum biochemical factors, and high-temperature stress responses in common carp (Cyprinus carpio). A total number of 216 common carp with an average weight of <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1"> <a:mn>27.21</a:mn> <a:mo>±</a:mo> <a:mn>53</a:mn> </a:math> g were divided into 12 tanks ( <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2"> <c:mtext>four</c:mtext> <c:mtext> </c:mtext> <c:mtext>treatments</c:mtext> <c:mo>×</c:mo> <c:mtext>three</c:mtext> <c:mtext> </c:mtext> <c:mtext>replications</c:mtext> </c:math> ) and fed 0 mg/kg quercetin (T0), 200 mg/kg quercetin (T1), 400 mg/kg quercetin (T2), and 600 mg/kg quercetin (T3) for 60 days. There were significant differences in growth performance, and the highest final body weight (FBW), weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR), and feed intake (FI) were observed in T2 and T3 ( <e:math xmlns:e="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M3"> <e:mi>P</e:mi> <e:mo><</e:mo> <e:mn>0.05</e:mn> </e:math> ). Different quercetin levels significantly increased complement pathway activity (ACH50) and lysozyme activity both before and after heat stress ( <g:math xmlns:g="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M4"> <g:mi>P</g:mi> <g:mo><</g:mo> <g:mn>0.05</g:mn> </g:math> ). Catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and malondialdehyde (MDA) were significantly increased in fish exposed to heat stress, but fish fed with a supplemented diet with quercetin showed the lowest levels both before and after heat stress ( <i:math xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M5"> <i:mi>P</i:mi> <i:mo><</i:mo> <i:mn>0.05</i:mn> </i:math> ). Superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels were significantly enhanced in fish fed diets supplemented with quercetin in both phases ( <k:math xmlns:k="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M6"> <k:mi>P</k:mi> <k:mo><</k:mo> <k:mn>0.05</k:mn> </k:math> ). Different quercetin levels led to a significant decrease in alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) before and after the challenging test ( <m:math xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M7"> <m:mi>P</m:mi> <m:mo><</m:mo> <m:mn>0.05</m:mn> </m:math> ). Glucose and cortisol levels were significantly higher in the control group compared to the other treatments in both phases ( <o:math xmlns:o="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M8"> <o:mi>P</o:mi> <o:mo><</o:mo> <o:mn>0.05</o:mn> </o:math> ). The expression of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and lysozyme was markedly upregulated in fish fed with quercetin-supplemented diets ( <q:math xmlns:q="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M9"> <q:mi>P</q:mi> <q:mo><</q:mo> <q:mn>0.05</q:mn> </q:math> ). No marked effects were observed for growth hormone (GR) and interleukin-8 (IL8) ( <s:math xmlns:s="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M10"> <s:mi>P</s:mi> <s:mo>></s:mo> <s:mn>0.05</s:mn> </s:math> ). In conclusion, dietary quercetin supplementations (400-600 mg/kg quercetin) improved growth performance, immunity, and antioxidant status and increased tolerance to heat stress.