Study of the immunomodulatory activity of Fc-RP1 peptide in Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) during infectious aerocystitis by Streptococcus agalactiae

• Grant number: 19/12307-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2019
• End date: November 30, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Marco Antonio de Andrade Belo
• Grantee: Herlem Camila Pinto da Silva
• Host Institution: Universidade Brasil. Campus Descalvado. Descalvado , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Aiming at the growth of fish farming in the Brazilian economy and the need to understand the defense mechanisms of these animals to assist in the sanitary management of farms, this work proposes the study of the Fc RP1 peptide as a modulator of the immune system in Nile tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus) during infectious aerocystitis by Streptococcus agalactiae. 96 young tilapia will be reared in 12 aquariums with 100 L of water each, supplied with running water devoid of chlorine, from an artesian well with a flow rate of 1 L / min, randomly distributed in the following treatments: untreated control, treated with 50, 100 and 200mcg of Fc-RP1 / kg of b.w., for evaluation of the kinetic cell accumulation in the inflamed focus. Seven fish per treatment will be sampled in three periods: 6, 24 and 48 hours after inoculation of the bacterium, to collect exudate from the swimming bladder and blood to determine the hemogram. The correlation between the hematological findings and the cell count in the inflamed focus will allow investigating the participation of this peptide on the pathophysiology of the acute inflammatory reaction in tilapia. In addition to promoting technical and scientific knowledge in aquaculture, the findings of this research may represent important advances in the determination of alternative experimental models for the study of human meningitis, considering that S. agalactiae is the main cause of bacterial meningitis in children.