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. 2021 Jun 15:8:647722.
doi: 10.3389/fvets.2021.647722. eCollection 2021.

Folic Acid-Coated Nanochitosan Ameliorated the Growth Performance, Hematological Parameters, Antioxidant Status, and Immune Responses of Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Sahar Farahnak Roudsari  1 , Houman Rajabi Islami  1 , Seyed Abdolmajid Mousavi  2 , Mehdi Shamsaie Mehrgan  1
Affiliations

Folic Acid-Coated Nanochitosan Ameliorated the Growth Performance, Hematological Parameters, Antioxidant Status, and Immune Responses of Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Sahar Farahnak Roudsari et al. Front Vet Sci. .

Abstract

In recent years, chitosan has gained considerable attention due to its favorable properties such as excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability for which it can be used as a health supplement for delivering bioactive compounds in the food industry and nutrition. In the present study, the effect of nanochitosans coated with folic acid (FA) was considered on the growth performance, hematological parameters, antioxidant status, and serum immune responses of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fingerlings. Graded levels of FA-coated nanochitosan (0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, and 1 mg kg-1 diet) were added to the basal diet, and each experimental diet was fed to three groups of fish with an approximate weight of 31 g for 8 weeks. The experimental study demonstrated that dietary FA-coated nanochitosan significantly (P < 0.05) improved the weight gain ration (WGR), specific growth rate (SGR), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of fish at the end of the feeding trial. There were also linearly increasing trends in red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs), hemoglobin (Hb), and hematocrit (Hct) of fish fed with increasing dietary chitosan/FA levels, whereas no significant difference was recorded in differential leukocyte count of fish among the treatments. In case of antioxidant responses, fish fed diet supplemented with 0.50 mg kg-1 FA-coated nanochitosan had the highest CAT and SOD activities, while the maximum activity of GPX was found in fish fed diet supplemented with 1.00 mg kg-1 FA-coated nanochitosan. Malondialdehyde activity also reached the lowest value in fish fed with 1.00 mg kg-1 FA-coated nanochitosan-supplemented diet (P < 0.05). Measured immune responses showed a linear augmentation in lysozyme activity (LA) with increasing dietary FA-coated nanochitosan, while linearly and quadratically increasing trends were recorded in immunoglobulin M (IgM) content as well as complement component C3 and C4 activities by increasing the supplementation of nanochitosan coated with FA (P < 0.05). Findings of the current study illustrated the positive effect of dietary FA-coated nanochitosan as a promising compound on improving the growth performance, feed utilization, antioxidant status, and immune responses of rainbow trout.

Keywords: chitosan; folic acid; innate immunity; nanoparticle; rainbow trout.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scanning electron microscope image of chitosan nanoparticles before (A) and after (B) loading with folic acid (at 15 kV and 150 k × magnification).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Particle size distribution of chitosan/folic acid nanoparticle.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Fourier transform infrared spectra of folic acid (FA), chitosan nanoparticles (CS-NPs), and folic acid coated chitosan nanoparticles (FA-CS-NPs).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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