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Changes in the splenic melanomacrophage centre surface area in southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii) are associated with blood fluke infections
Citation
Nowak, BF and Dang, TS and Webber, C and Neumann, L and Bridle, A and Bermudez, R and Evans, D, Changes in the splenic melanomacrophage centre surface area in southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii) are associated with blood fluke infections, Pathogens, 10, (1) Article 79. ISSN 2076-0817 (2021) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).
DOI: doi:10.3390/pathogens10010079
Abstract
Melanomacrophage centres (MMCs) are aggregates of macrophages accumulating various pigments. They have been proposed as an indicator of fish immune response. Blood flukes are common parasites in farmed fish. Two cohorts of wild Southern Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus maccoyi) were examined at transfer, before treatment against blood flukes (pre-treatment) and at harvest. MMCs were assessed in histological sections using image analysis, while Cardicola forsteri and Cardicola orientalis infection severity was determined using qPCR, count of adult flukes in heart flushes and count of eggs in gill filaments. Fish from both cohorts showed the same pattern in the changes in the surface area of MMCs. The surface area of splenic MMCs increased over the ranching duration and was positively correlated to the PCR determined copy numbers of Cardicola forsteri ITS2 rDNA in the gills of those fish. However, the infection with blood fluke was more variable, both between cohorts and individuals within the same cohort. Eggs of blood fluke were detected in renal MMCs using histology. Cardicola forsteri had a higher prevalence than Cardicola orientalis. This study contributes to our understanding of blood fluke infections in Southern Bluefin Tuna and their interactions with MMCs.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | parasite, melanomacrophage centre, tuna |
| Research Division: | Agricultural, Veterinary and Food Sciences |
| Research Group: | Fisheries sciences |
| Research Field: | Fish pests and diseases |
| Objective Division: | Animal Production and Animal Primary Products |
| Objective Group: | Fisheries - aquaculture |
| Objective Field: | Aquaculture tuna |
| UTAS Author: | Nowak, BF (Professor Barbara Nowak) |
| UTAS Author: | Dang, TS (Ms Thi Dang) |
| UTAS Author: | Neumann, L (Mr Lukas Neumann) |
| UTAS Author: | Bridle, A (Associate Professor Andrew Bridle) |
| ID Code: | 143435 |
| Year Published: | 2021 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 2 |
| Deposited By: | Fisheries and Aquaculture |
| Deposited On: | 2021-03-17 |
| Last Modified: | 2021-10-07 |
| Downloads: | 18 View Download Statistics |
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