Laboratory for Evolution & Development, Institute of Evolution & Marine Biodiversity, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China.
Mol Immunol. 2012 Jul;51(3-4):332-6. doi: 10.1016/j.molimm.2012.04.003. Epub 2012 Apr 30.
Maternal transfer of antibodies from mother to eggs has been reported in various species of fishes, and these antibodies have been proposed to play immune roles in developing embryos and larvae. However, firm evidence supporting this remains lacking. In this study, we clearly demonstrated that immunization of female zebrafish with the hapten-carrier complex, trinitrophenylated bovine serum albumin (TNP-BSA), induced a significant increase in anti-TNP antibody production in the mothers, which in turn induced a marked increase in anti-TNP antibody level in their eggs. Microinjection of anti-zebrafish IgM antibody into early embryos (to neutralize endogenous antibody action) resulted in a remarkable decrease in the resistance of recipient embryos to pathogenic Aeromonas hydrophila, whereas injection of BSA or anti-β-actin monoclonal antibody into the same stage embryos had little effect on their resistance to the pathogen. Moreover, the content of endogenous antibodies in eggs was clearly correlated with their antibacterial activity against A. hydrophila. This is the first report showing that maternally transferred antibodies in fish can protect early embyros/larvae from the attack of pathogens like A. hydrophila.
母体将抗体从母亲转移到卵中已在各种鱼类中被报道，这些抗体被提出在发育中的胚胎和幼虫中发挥免疫作用。然而，支持这一观点的确凿证据仍然缺乏。在这项研究中，我们清楚地表明，用半抗原载体复合物三硝基苯甲酰化牛血清白蛋白（TNP-BSA）免疫雌性斑马鱼会显著增加母体中的抗 TNP 抗体产生，进而显著增加其卵中的抗 TNP 抗体水平。将抗斑马鱼 IgM 抗体微注射到早期胚胎中（中和内源性抗体的作用）会导致受者胚胎对致病性嗜水气单胞菌的抵抗力显著下降，而将 BSA 或抗β-肌动蛋白单克隆抗体注射到同一阶段的胚胎中对其抵抗病原体的能力几乎没有影响。此外，卵中的内源性抗体含量与它们对 A. hydrophila 的抗菌活性明显相关。这是首次报道表明鱼类中母体转移的抗体可以保护早期胚胎/幼虫免受像 A. hydrophila 这样的病原体的攻击。
