Dietary choline promotes growth, antioxidant capacity and immune response by modulating p38MAPK/p53 signaling pathways of juvenile Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei).

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of dietary choline levels on growth performance, antioxidant capacity, innate immunity and hemocyte apoptosis of Litopenaeus vannamei. Six isonitrogenous and isolipidic diets were formulated to contain different choline levels: 2.91 (basal diet), 3.85, 4.67, 6.55, 10.70 and 18.90 g kgcholine, respectively. The results indicated that shrimp fed diet with 4.67 g kg choline had the highest final body weight (FBW), percent weight gain (PWG), specific growth rate (SGR), feed efficiency (FE), and activities of alkaline phosphatase (AKP) and phenoloxidase (PO) in hemolymph among all treatments. Shrimp fed diet with 18.90 g kg choline exhibited significantly lower crude lipid in hepatopancreas than those fed diets with 2.91, 3.85, 4.67 and 6.55 g kg choline (P < 0.05). The concentration of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and apoptosis rate in hemocytes significantly decreased with the increase of dietary choline levels (P < 0.05). Shrimp fed diets with 6.55, 10.70 and 18.90 g kg choline had significantly higher scavenging ability of hydroxyl radical (SAHR) and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) in hemolymph than those fed diet with 2.91 g kg choline (P < 0.05). Dietary choline supplementation down-regulated the expression of genes related to apoptosis such as caspase-1, caspase-3, caspase-8, p53, and p38MAPK in hemocytes (P < 0.05), while up-regulated the expression of anti-apoptosis gene bcl2 in hemocytes (P < 0.05). Overall, the results of the present study demonstrated that appropriate dietary choline could improve growth performance and feed utilization, enhance antioxidant capacity and innate immunity, and mitigate apoptosis in Litopenaeus vannamei. Moreover, the inhibition of hemocyte apoptosis by dietary choline may be regulated by the p38MAPK-p53 signaling pathway.