IMMUNOPHARMACOLOGICAL STUDY OF TREATMENT WITH Artemisia annua, ARTEMESININ AND ARTEMETER ADMINISTERED ORALLY IN NILE TILAPIA, DURING INFECTION BY Aeromonas hydrophila

• Grant number: 23/18386-4
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: September 01, 2024
• End date: August 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Marco Antonio de Andrade Belo
• Grantee: Marco Antonio de Andrade Belo
• Host Institution: Universidade Brasil. Campus Descalvado. Descalvado , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Helio Jose Montassier ; Jorge Galindo-Villegas ; Mary Ann Foglio ; Patricia Bianca Clissa

Abstract

The present study aims to evaluate the immunopharmacological effect of Artemisia annua, the isolated artemisinin and its derivative artemether at a dose equivalent to 9.6 mg of artemisinin/kg of feed, administered orally to tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), through two experimental trials. : carried out to evaluate the immunomodulatory effect on the inflammatory reaction (innate immunity) and the measurement of anti-Aeromonas hydrophila antibodies (adaptive immunity) with a survival study, both studies on tilapia vaccinated and challenged against Aeromonas hydrophila. After cultivation and collection of A. annua, artemisinin and its derivative artemether will be extracted by HPLC-RI. Therefore, the following treatments will be constituted: V0= vaccinated and without treatment; V1= vaccinated and treated with A. annua; V2= vaccinated and treated with artemisinin; V3= vaccinated and treated with artemether; NV0= not vaccinated and not treated; NV1= unvaccinated and treated A. annua; NV2= not vaccinated and treated with artemisinin; NV3= not vaccinated and treated with artemether. Diets containing A. annua, artemisinin and artemether will be administered for 15 days prior to the vaccine stimulus (A. hydrophila bacterin containing 1.0X109/mL administered intraperitoneally at a dose of 0.5mL). After vaccination, the fish will continue to be fed the experimental diets for 15 days to induce the acute inflammatory process (6, 24 and 48 hours post-inoculation) and 28 days to measure Abs (14, 21 and 28 days post-vaccination) with survival test on the 28th day. However, correlations between cell accumulation studies in inflammatory exudate, leukocyte count, leukocyte respiratory activity, determination of lysozyme activity, acute phase proteins, serum biochemistry and measurement of Acs will provide important information to evaluate the modulating effect of treatments on the fish immunity as a strategy to assist the health management of fish farms. (AU)