Aquaculture Research Group, Centro de Ciências do Mar do Algarve (CCMAR), Faro, Portugal.
SPAROS Lda., Olhão, Portugal.
PLoS One. 2021 Apr 9;16(4):e0248356. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248356. eCollection 2021.
New and more efficient methods to sustainably intensify Aquaculture production are essential to attain the seafood demand for direct human consumption in the near future. Nutrition has been identified as one strategy of early exposure that might affect animal early development and later phenotype. This strategy may have positive consequences in the modulation of fish digestive physiology, which will correlate with higher performance outputs. Thus, improving fish digestive efficiency will lead to higher productivity and lower biogenic emission from aquaculture facilities, minimising the impact on the environment while increasing the biological efficiency. An innovative in ovo nutritional modulation technique based on low-frequency ultrasounds was used to enhance the transport of amino acids across the embryo membranes. An early stimulus with either arginine or glutamine, both involved in gut maturation, was applied in zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos at 3.5 hours post-fertilization (hpf). At 22 days post-fertilization (dpf), growth performance, digestive enzyme activities and gut microbiota composition were analysed to evaluate the larval nutrition-induced metabolic plasticity and the effects on fish digestive efficiency. Results showed that fish survival was not affected either by the sonophoresis technique or amino acid supplementation. Final dry weight at 22 dpf was statistically higher in larvae from glutamine treatment when compared to the control even with lower trypsin activity, suggesting a higher nutrient digestion capacity, due to a slightly modulation of gut microbiota. Higher arginine supplementation levels should be tested as strategy to enhance growth at later developmental stages. In conclusion, this study demonstrated the efficiency of sonophoresis technique for in ovo nutritional modulation and suggests that in ovo glutamine supplementation might promote growth at later developmental stage through a positive microbiota modulation.
新的、更有效的方法来可持续地强化水产养殖生产，对于满足未来不久人类对海鲜的直接消费需求至关重要。营养已被确定为早期暴露的策略之一，可能会影响动物的早期发育和后期表型。这种策略可能对鱼类消化生理的调节有积极的影响，这将与更高的性能输出相关。因此，提高鱼类的消化效率将导致更高的生产力和更低的水产养殖设施的生物排放，从而在提高生物效率的同时，将对环境的影响降到最低。本研究采用基于低频超声波的新型胚胎内营养调节技术来增强氨基酸穿过胚胎膜的运输。在受精后 3.5 小时（hpf），用精氨酸或谷氨酰胺（均参与肠道成熟）对斑马鱼（Danio rerio）胚胎进行早期刺激。在受精后 22 天（dpf），分析生长性能、消化酶活性和肠道微生物区系组成，以评估营养诱导的代谢可塑性和对鱼类消化效率的影响。结果表明，胚胎内超声处理或氨基酸补充均未影响鱼类的存活率。与对照组相比，谷氨酰胺处理组的 22 dpf 幼虫的最终干重更高，尽管其胰蛋白酶活性较低，但这表明其具有更高的营养消化能力，这可能是由于肠道微生物区系的轻微调节。应测试更高水平的精氨酸补充作为增强后期发育阶段生长的策略。总之，本研究证明了胚胎内超声处理技术用于胚胎内营养调节的效率，并表明胚胎内谷氨酰胺补充可能通过积极的微生物区系调节来促进后期发育阶段的生长。
