Volpe Enrico, Ciulli Sara, Morini Maria, Gentile Laura, Casalini Antonio, Gentilezza Chiara, Mandrioli Luciana
Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, 40064 Bologna, Italy.
Animals (Basel). 2025 Jun 19;15(12):1810. doi: 10.3390/ani15121810.
The skin and its products, such as the mucus, represent an important defense mechanism against infection by pathogens. Various environmental conditions can alter mucus composition and/or cells embedded in this matrix. The analysis of skin mucus is considered a useful method to evaluate the biological response of fish to stimuli. The mucus and cells can be considered suitable non-invasive biomarkers. With this preliminary study, an antibacterial capacity method was applied to cutaneous mucus samples of a European eel population. This standardized method highlighted the ability of the mucus to significantly counteract the proliferation of two bacteria, the opportunistic pathogen and the primary pathogen . The cytological method using skin scraping has proven to be a useful non-invasive tool, having allowed the highlighting of the two most represented cellular populations of the cutaneous covering, the epidermal cells and the goblet cells, in combination with mucous strands. Cytological findings did not disclose pathologic elements in the mucus. A broader use of these two non-invasive microbiological and cytological methods can provide useful information on fish health, indirectly contributing to the conservation of the species.
皮肤及其产物，如黏液，是抵御病原体感染的重要防御机制。各种环境条件会改变黏液的组成和/或嵌入该基质的细胞。皮肤黏液分析被认为是评估鱼类对刺激的生物学反应的一种有用方法。黏液和细胞可被视为合适的非侵入性生物标志物。通过这项初步研究，一种抗菌能力方法被应用于欧洲鳗鱼种群的皮肤黏液样本。这种标准化方法突出了黏液显著对抗两种细菌增殖的能力，即机会性病原体和原发性病原体。使用皮肤刮片的细胞学方法已被证明是一种有用的非侵入性工具，它能够结合黏液丝突出皮肤覆盖物中两种最具代表性的细胞群体，即表皮细胞和杯状细胞。细胞学检查结果未在黏液中发现病理成分。更广泛地使用这两种非侵入性微生物学和细胞学方法可以提供有关鱼类健康的有用信息，间接地有助于物种保护。
