Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, School of Environmental and Biological Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Xiaolingwei 200, Nanjing 210094, PR China.
National Engineering Laboratory for Advanced Municipal Wastewater Treatment and Reuse Technology, Key Laboratory of Beijing for Water Quality Science and Water Environment Recovery Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, PR China.
Sci Total Environ. 2019 Jun 1;667:455-463. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.02.414. Epub 2019 Feb 27.
Animal food wastes are a concern due to the large amounts of commercial food required for model animals during the biological and biomedical research. Searching for sustainable food alternatives with negligible physiological effects on animals is critical to solve or reduce this challenge. Microalgae have been demonstrated to be suitable for both human consumption and animal feed. In this study, the possibility of using Chlorella vulgaris and Senedesmus obliquus as a feed replacement to Drosophila melanogaster, one of the fly models commonly used in biomedical studies, was investigated. Characteristics including the fly locomotor activity, motor pattern, feeding behavior, lifespan and body weight were assessed. Results showed that compared to control, the flies fed on 80% microalga (80-flies) in the total weight (w/w) had the double increased apparent step size, while both 60-flies and 80-flies exhibited longer travel distances (60%: 27.77 ± 1.99 cm; 80%: 31.50 ± 3.70 cm) most likely due to the starvation and varied serotonin levels in flies fed on high percentages microalgae. Subsequently, 40-flies exhibited less optimal growth performance with decreased body weights (0.51 ± 0.006 mg vs 0.60 ± 0.005 mg for control) and shorter mean lifespan (36 days vs 55.8 days for control. However, 20-flies showed no statistical differences in all parameters tested with respect to control flies, indicating that 20% microalgae treatment did not greatly change the primary food component such as carbohydrate which might play a critical role in fly performance. Therefore, the inclusion of 20% microalgae could be an alternative to fly standard food without compromising fly physiological performance.
动物食物废物是一个令人关注的问题，因为在生物和生物医学研究中，模型动物需要大量的商业食品。寻找对动物生理影响极小的可持续食物替代品对于解决或减少这一挑战至关重要。微藻已被证明既适合人类食用，也适合动物饲料。在这项研究中，研究了用普通小球藻和斜生栅藻替代果蝇（一种常用于生物医学研究的常用蝇模型之一）作为饲料的可能性。评估了包括苍蝇的运动活动、运动模式、摄食行为、寿命和体重在内的特征。结果表明，与对照组相比，在总重量（w/w）中用 80%微藻喂养的苍蝇（80-苍蝇）的表观步幅增加了一倍，而 60-苍蝇和 80-苍蝇的行进距离均更长（60%：27.77±1.99cm；80%：31.50±3.70cm），这很可能是由于高比例微藻喂养的苍蝇饥饿和血清素水平不同。随后，40-苍蝇表现出较差的生长性能，体重下降（0.51±0.006mg 对 0.60±0.005mg 对照组），平均寿命缩短（36 天对 55.8 天对照组）。然而，与对照组相比，20-苍蝇在所有测试参数上均无统计学差异，表明 20%微藻处理并未极大地改变碳水化合物等主要食物成分，碳水化合物可能在苍蝇性能中起关键作用。因此，在不影响苍蝇生理性能的情况下，添加 20%的微藻可以作为苍蝇标准食物的替代品。
