THE INTESTINAL IMMUNE RESPONSE (INFLAMMATION, TIGHT JUNCTION PROTEIN AND HUMORAL IMMUNE GENES EXPRESSION) OF GILTHEAD SEABREAM Sparus aurata FED MORINGA LEAVES SUPPLEMENTED DIETS

Abdallah T. Mansour*ac, Liang Miaob, Cristobal Espinosac, Jose-Maria G. Beltranc, Diana Ceballosc, and Maria A. Estebanc
 
aFish and Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture (Saba Basha), Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt. E-mail: a_taag@yahoo.com
bKey Laboratory of Applied Marine Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China.
cFish Innate Immune System Group, Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Faculty of Biology, Regional Campus of International Excellence "Campus Mare Nostrum", University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain.

The effect of dietary incorporation of Moringa olifera leaves (MOL) meal (0, 5, 10 15%) in gilthead seabream Sparus aurata (138.75±4.65 g) on intestinal immune response was studied after two or four weeks. To do this, relative gene expression of intermediate immune response and immune-related genes in the intestine, such as anti-inflammatory (il-10 and tgf-β), pro-inflammatory cytokines (il-8 and tnf-α), tight junction protein (occuldin and zo-1) and humoral immunity (lyso and c3). The results showed that relative expression of the mRNA levels of tgf-β significantly up-regulated with all MOL treatments all over the experimental period. Meanwhile, il-10 was not affect with MOL inclusion treatments except down-regulation with 10% MOL after 2 weeks. The mRNA levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines showed a down-regulation trend of il-8 and tnf-α after two or four weeks of feeding with the experimental diets. The tight junction proteins occuldin and zo-1 as a physical barrier in intestinal wall tended to increase after four weeks of treatment with all MOL levels especially 5% MOL. The intestinal mucosal immune components as humoral substances (lyso and c3) showed an increase of lyso mRNA levels with 15% MOL inclusion after two or four weeks, without any significant difference among other treatments and the control. Moreover, the mRNA level of c3 significantly up-regulated with 15% and insignificantly with 5% MOL substitution than the control group. Therefore, it is recommended to incorporating MOL in S. aurata diets for intestinal immune stimulation.