Effects of dietary supplementation with peony pollen on growth, immune-related gene expression, and antioxidant status of Cyprinus carpio

Abstract

Peony (Paeonia suffruticosa Andr.) is both ornamental flower and Chinese herbal medicine in China. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary peony pollen on growth performance and immune status of common carp (Cyprinus carpio). Five different diets with 0% (control group), 1%, 2%, 3% and 4 % of peony pollen were designed to feed the fish for 6 weeks. The results indicated that the dietary peony pollen has beneficial effects on growth performance of common carp. In addition, evaluation of the liver antioxidant enzymes activity of total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) in 3% peony pollen group, showed significant increase in carps fed peony pollen (P < 0.05), except the malondialdehyde (MDA) activity. The genes expression levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and interleukin-1-β (IL1β) in the carps fed peony pollen were obviously decreased compared to the control group (P < 0.05). The expression levels of heat shock protein-70 (Hsp70) were up-regulated significantly in carps fed peony pollen (P < 0.05). Our observations suggest that peony pollen supplementation in the diets has the potential to improve the immune response by activating carp's cellular antioxidant activity and regulating the expression of immune-related genes, which may lead to increased carp tolerance to adverse conditions. Further research is needed on the use of peony pollen to improve disease resistance in fisheries.