Effects of dietary vitamin C on growth, antioxidant enzyme activity and immune‐related gene expression of<i>Pampus argenteus</i>
Man Zhang, Siwen Kuang, Yibo Sun, Jiachu Sun, Xinyue Tian, Yunfei Hu, Jiabao Hu, Yajun Wang, Shanliang Xu, Wantu Xu, Dingyuan Zhang
Abstract
As a micronutrient, vitamin C plays an important role in growth and immunity of fish, but the effects of vitamin C on Pampus argenteus were still unclear. Here, we added vitamin C with different concentrations (0, 350, 1050, 2100 and 4200 mg/kg) to the basic diet, and the optimal concentration of vitamin C was screened out as 1050 mg/kg through the growth indicators, antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, CAT, GSH-PX and MDA) and the expression of four immune-related genes (IL-2, IL-3, IL-17 and IL-18). After feeding dietary vitamin C supplementation with optimal concentration for 4 weeks, 80 ml/t formaldehyde was used to damage the immune system of fish. Then, the activities of the antioxidant enzymes and immune-related genes were tested to find out the protective effects of vitamin C on the immune system. The results showed that the activity of CAT, SOD and GSH-PX increased, while the MDA content decreased. At the molecular level, the expression of IL-2 and IL-3 genes increased, but the expression of IL-17 and IL-18 genes was inhibited. These findings suggested that the dietary vitamin C supplementation improved fish growth, alleviated the stress reaction caused by formaldehyde treatment and improved the immunity of P. argenteus.