Author(s)

Paria Akbary^1,2, Ali Reza Mirvaghefi^2*, Mostafa Akhlaghi³, Mohammad Saeid Fereidouni³

¹Department of Marine Sciences, Fisheries Group, Chabahar Maritime University, Chabahar, Iran.
²Department of Natural Resources, Faculty of Fisheries, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran.
³Aquatic Animal Health Unit, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shirazu University, Shiraz, Iran.

This study evaluated efficacy of maternal and larval immunisation against Lactococcus garviae infection and on the lysozyme and immunoglobulin (IgM) levels in rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walaum). Forty-eight-day-old larvae (mean weight 96 mg) originating from injected weekly with letrozole and immunised, only immunised and non-immunised parents were experimentally infected with the L. garvieae, and the mortality rate was recorded daily. Larvae were vaccinated by immersion at 58 days post hatch with live L. garvieae (10⁹ cells/mL) for 15 min. Every third day post larvae vaccination, two larvae from each group were collected for analysis lysozyme (by a method based on the ability of lysozyme to lyse the bacterium Micrococcus lysodeikticus) and IgM (by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)) parameters. Vaccinated and control larvae were tested for protection against L. garvieae 30 days post larvae immunization when the larvae were 88 days old. Larvae were challenged by bath exposure with live L. garvieae (10⁹ cells/mL) for 2 min and monitored for mortality for at least 10 days following challenge. The challenge experiment with L. garvieae showed a significant reduction in larvae from immunised (54.44% ± 0.64%) and injected weekly with letrozole and immunised fish (52.96% ± 0.97%) compared to larvae from control fish (62.96% ± 2.22%). Vaccinated larvae originated from injected weekly with letrozole and immunised parents showed significantly higher lysozyme activity compared to other fish groups. Vaccinated larvae showed significantly less mortality compared to controls. The relative percent survival (RPS) values of larvae from only immunised, injected weekly with letrozole and immunised and non-immunised parents vaccinated with L. garvieae were 67.36% ± 0.9%, 68.05% ± 0.66% and 48.27% ± 2.79% respectively. The results indicate that the effect of maternal immunization rainbow trout against L. garvieae infection by eliciting the immune responses as indicated by an increase in the IgM level and lysozyme activity.

Immunisation, Relative Percent of Survival (RPS), Rainbow Trout Larvae, Lactococcus garviae, Immunoglobulin

Akbary, P. , Mirvaghefi, A. , Akhlaghi, M. and Fereidouni, M. (2015) Influence of Maternal and Larval Immunisation against Lactococcus garviae Infection in Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walaum) Lysozyme Activity and IgM Level. Open Journal of Animal Sciences, 5, 258-269. doi: 10.4236/ojas.2015.53030.