EFFECT OF Nigella sativa AND CIPROFLOXACIN AGAINST BACTERIAL INFECTION ON GENE EXPRESSION IN Oreochromis niloticus BLOOD

Aquaculture are facing several problems of water quality and associated diseases. A close look at the immune system in the blood during bacterial infection allows us to properly control the pathogens. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of both Nigella sativa oil (NSO) and Ciprofloxacin (Cip) through evaluating their therapeutic and immunity properties on expression of hepcidin, IL-1β and CYP1A genes and some blood parameters against bacterial infection of Oreochromis niloticus. A healthy O. niloticus fingerlings were equally divided into 13 experimental groups (T_1-13) and each group contained sixteen which were stocked with duplicates. T_1-5 were served as controls, T_6-9 were infected by Aeromonas hydrophila (Ah) and T₁₀-₁₃ were infected by Pseudomonas fluorescens (Ps). The suggested treatments were distributed among them.

The results showed that hepcidin and IL-1β transcripts was up-regulated with bacterial infection. However, Cip and NSO treatments were presented a significant up-regulation in hepcidin transcript during A. hydrophila infection and IL-1β gene expression was a significant up-regulated by Cip with bacterial infection compared to NSO (Fig 1). CYP1A gene expression was down-regulated by Cip and NSO with infection than controls (Fig 1). On the other hand, T_10-T₁₃ groups showed a significant increase (P<0.05) in total protein, albumin and globulin levels compared to the uninfected control group (T₁). Also, the total protein, albumin and globulin levels were a significantly increased (P<0.05) by the treatment with ciprofloxacin in infected groups (Table 1). In conclusion, Nigella sativa was decreased IL-1β and CYP1A gene expression. Both of Ciprofloxacin and Nigella sativa were involved in the defense against bacterial infection where the effect varies depending on the bacterial infection.