EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT MICROALGAE IN PREPARED FEEDS ON ANTI-INFLAMMATORY CYTOKINE, IL-10 PRODUCTION OF THE SEA CUCUMBER Apostichopus japonicus

Sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus is temperate species, which has long been exploited as an important fishery resource in Russia, China, Japan and South Korea (Sloan, 1984). Market demand for this species has increased because of it's aphrodisiac and curative properties. By feeding commercial feed where mostly used S. thunbergii, sea cucumber have high level of n-6 fatty acids and low n-3 fatty acids, balance of n-3/n-6 ratio is not good and quite low IL-10 production. But for many allergic and inflammatory diseases like asthma, ω3 fatty acids, good balance of n-3/n-6 ratio, IL-10 production is very important. In China and Malaysia, sea cucumbers have been traditionally used for the remedy of different inflammatory diseases like asthma. Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease and have major public health problem.  IL-10 is a potent anti-inflammatory cytokine that plays a vital role for the mitigation of allergic responses. But till now, there are no reports demonstrating the effect of different algae on IL-10 production of sea cucumber. . In the present study, the effects of different algae (Ulva prolifera, Undaria pinnatifida, Gloiopeltis furcata, Laminaria japonica, Pyropia yezoensis) in prepared feeds on anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 production of the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus were examined.

Four replicate groups of sea cucumber, Apostichopus  japonicus were fed one of the five experimental diets containing Ulva prolifera (UP), Undaria pinnatifida (UPD), Gloiopeltis furcata (GF), Laminaria japonica (LJ), Pyropia yezoensis (PY) for 08 weeks. After feeding trail, sea cucumbers were cut into small pieces and homogenized. 20g of samples were boiled in 20 ml distilled water for 4 hr at 100^°C. After removing solid materials from the water, the boiled water was vaporized using a microwave until the mixture was reduced by 50%. Finally sea cucumber extract carried out at room temperature. After that, Six-week-old female mice were fed 200 μL of 10-fold diluted extracts in PBS and PBS only (control) every other day up to 7 times for four weeks. The results showed that IL-10 production was significantly higher in 10% Laminaria japonica (LJ) algae containing diets than that of sea cucumber fed the other diets.