Li Siping, Liu Xin, Lin Tingting, Zhang Dong
Key Laboratory of Inland Saline-Alkaline Aquaculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Shanghai 200090, China.
Shangdong Qianyuan Bio-Tech Co., Ltd., Bingzhou 256600, China.
Animals (Basel). 2025 May 22;15(11):1509. doi: 10.3390/ani15111509.
Ectotherms can elevate their body temperature in response to infection by seeking warmer environments, a phenomenon known as behavioral fever. This adaptive response, widely documented in fish, activates immune defenses and improves survival. To explore an eco-friendly approach for managing Vibrio-induced enteritis in lined seahorse () aquaculture, we investigated whether infection triggers behavioral fever and enhances immune function. Seahorses were intraperitoneally injected with (1 × 10 cfu/fish) and placed in a thermal gradient tank (19-31 °C), allowing free movement between chambers. Challenged seahorses exhibited a significant preference ( < 0.05, 1.31-fold) for warmer zones compared to unchallenged controls, whereas no such difference ( > 0.05) was observed in a constant temperature (25 °C) tank, confirming behavioral fever. Furthermore, fevered seahorses showed significantly elevated plasma cytokine levels (PGE2, IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α; < 0.05), which normalized ( > 0.05) to baseline levels, except for TNF-α, compared to unfevered individuals. In kidney tissue, challenged seahorses expressing behavioral fever exhibited gene expression levels (, , , and ) similar to unchallenged controls ( > 0.05) but significantly lower ( < 0.05) than those kept at constant temperature. These findings suggest that behavioral fever in modulates core temperature to regulate cytokine release and immune-related gene expression. This study provides foundational insights for developing practical, non-invasive strategies to mitigate enteritis in seahorse aquaculture through thermal behavior manipulation.
变温动物可以通过寻找更温暖的环境来提高体温以应对感染，这种现象被称为行为性发热。这种适应性反应在鱼类中得到了广泛记录，它能激活免疫防御并提高生存率。为了探索一种生态友好的方法来管理斑纹海马（）养殖中由弧菌引起的肠炎，我们研究了感染是否会引发行为性发热并增强免疫功能。将海马腹腔注射（1×10 cfu/鱼），并放置在温度梯度水箱（19 - 31°C）中，使其能够在不同隔室之间自由移动。与未受挑战的对照组相比，受到挑战的海马对较温暖区域表现出显著偏好（<0.05，1.31倍），而在恒温（25°C）水箱中未观察到这种差异（>0.05），这证实了行为性发热。此外，发热的海马血浆细胞因子水平（PGE2、IL - 1β、IL - 6和TNF - α；<0.05）显著升高，与未发热个体相比，除TNF - α外，这些水平恢复到基线水平（>0.05）。在肾脏组织中，表现出行为性发热的受挑战海马的基因表达水平（、、和）与未受挑战的对照组相似（>0.05），但显著低于在恒温条件下饲养的海马（<0.05）。这些发现表明，斑纹海马的行为性发热调节核心体温以调节细胞因子释放和免疫相关基因表达。本研究为通过热行为操纵开发实用、非侵入性策略以减轻海马养殖中的肠炎提供了基础见解。
