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Effects of trichothecene mycotoxin T-2 toxin on haematological and immunological parameters of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of T-2 toxin–contaminated feed (at concentrations of 1.0 and 1.8 mg/kg) on the rainbow trout immune system by studying non-specific cellular and humoral immune responses and its effect on red and white blood cells. Consumption of T-2 toxin at both concentrations resulted in significantly increased erythrocyte counts and a decrease in mean corpuscular volume. While a significant decrease in mean corpuscular haemoglobin was observed at both experimental concentrations, the decrease in plasma haemoglobin was only significant at the higher T-2 toxin concentration. Higher T-2 toxin concentrations resulted in a significant increase in leukocyte and lymphocyte count, while absolute phagocyte count and counts of less mature neutrophil granulocyte forms remained unchanged at both concentrations. Non-specific humoral immunity (bactericidal activity measured as complement activation) decreased significantly in both experimental groups when compared with the control. The results of this study show that T-2 toxin in feed at a concentration range of 1.0–1.8 mg/kg influences the immunological defence mechanisms of rainbow trout.

Trial registration number, MSMT-3876/2014-14; date of registration, 31/1/2014.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Jan Caha for graphical visualisation of the data, Ales Franc for feed preparation and Kevin Roche for thorough English language correction.

Funding

This study was funded through the project PROFISH “Sustainable production of healthy fish under various aquaculture systems” (project no.CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000869) of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Czech Republic.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, Fisheries, Hydrobiology and Apiculture, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 1, 613 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Helena Modra, Miroslava Palikova, Ivana Papezikova & Jan Mares

  2. Department of Ecology and Diseases of Game, Fish and Bees, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Palackeho tr. 1946/1, 612 42, Brno, Czech Republic

    Miroslava Palikova & Ivana Papezikova

  3. Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlarska 2, 611 37, Brno, Czech Republic

    Pavel Hyrsl & Jana Bartonkova

  4. Department of Animal Protection, Welfare and Behaviour, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Palackeho tr. 1946/1, 612 42, Brno, Czech Republic

    Zdenka Svobodova & Jana Blahova

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  1. Helena Modra
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  2. Miroslava Palikova
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Contributions

Helena Modra, Jan Mares and Zdenka Svobodova contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and laboratory analysis were performed by Helena Modra, Miroslava Palikova, Pavel Hyrsl, Jana Bartonkova and Ivana Papezikova. Jana Blahova and Helena Modra did the statistical analyses of data. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Helena Modra and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the last revised version of manuscript.

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Correspondence to Helena Modra.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

This experimental study on trout was approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of the University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Czech Republic (MSMT-3876/2014-14) and performed in compliance with institutional guidelines and the Czech Republic national legislation (Act No. 246/1992 Coll. on the Protection of Animals Against Cruelty, as amended, and Decree No. 419/2012 Coll., on the Protection of Experimental Animals, as amended).

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Informed consent was obtained from all contributing authors included in the study.

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Helena Modra (corresponding author) declared that all contributing authors read the final version of this article and gave the consent for the article to be published in journal Mycotoxin Research.

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The datasets generated and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Modra, H., Palikova, M., Hyrsl, P. et al. Effects of trichothecene mycotoxin T-2 toxin on haematological and immunological parameters of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Mycotoxin Res 36, 319–326 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12550-020-00396-7

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