title: Lipotropes protect against pathogen-aggravated stress and mortality in low dose pesticide-exposed fish.
abstract: The decline of freshwater fish biodiversity corroborates the trends of unsustainable pesticide usage and increase of disease incidence in the last few decades. Little is known about the role of nonlethal exposure to pesticide, which is not uncommon, and concurrent infection of opportunistic pathogens in species decline. Moreover, preventative measures based on current knowledge of stress biology and an emerging role for epigenetic (especially methylation) dysregulation in toxicity in fish are lacking. We herein report the protective role of lipotropes/methyl donors (like choline, betaine and lecithin) in eliciting primary (endocrine), secondary (cellular and hemato-immunological and histoarchitectural changes) and tertiary (whole animal) stress responses including mortality (50%) in pesticide-exposed (nonlethal dose) and pathogen-challenged fish. The relative survival with betaine and lecithin was 10 and 20 percent higher. This proof of cause-and-effect relation and physiological basis under simulated controlled conditions indicate that sustained stress even due to nonlethal exposure to single pollutant enhances pathogenic infectivity in already nutritionally-stressed fish, which may be a driver for freshwater aquatic species decline in nature. Dietary lipotropes can be used as one of the tools in resurrecting the aquatic species decline.
authors.affiliation: Department of Fish Nutrition, Biochemistry and Physiology, Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Versova, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Neeraj
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Fish Nutrition, Biochemistry and Physiology, Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Versova, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Subodh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Department of Fish Nutrition, Biochemistry and Physiology, Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Versova, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Nitish Kumar
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Chandan
authors.affiliation: Department of Fish Nutrition, Biochemistry and Physiology, Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Versova, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Md
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aklakur
authors.affiliation: Department of Fish Nutrition, Biochemistry and Physiology, Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Versova, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Asim Kumar
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Pal
authors.affiliation: Department of Fish Nutrition, Biochemistry and Physiology, Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Versova, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Sanjay Balkrishna
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Jadhao
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers; D004726:Endosulfan / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000633:toxicity; D005399:Fishes; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology; D008082:Lipotropic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010575:Pesticides / Q000633:toxicity*; D020011:Protective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D008082:Lipotropic Agents; D010575:Pesticides; D020011:Protective Agents; D004726:Endosulfan