Dietary curcumin nanoparticles promoted the performance, antioxidant activity, and humoral immunity, and modulated the hepatic and intestinal histology of Nile tilapia fingerlings

• Published in: Fish physiology and biochemistry 2022-06, Vol.48 (3), p.585-601
• Main Authors: Abdel-Tawwab, Mohsen, Eissa, El-Sayed Hemdan, Tawfik, Wesam A., Abd Elnabi, Heba E., Saadony, Saadea, Bazina, Walaa K., Ahmed, Ragaa A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal Anatomy; Animal Biochemistry; Animal Physiology; Antioxidants; Biomarkers; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Blood cells; Catalase; Curcumin; Diet; Digestive enzymes; Enzymes; Erythrocytes; Fingerlings; Fish; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Freshwater fishes; Glutathione; Glutathione peroxidase; Growth rate; Hematocrit; Hemoglobin; Histology; Humoral immunity; Immunity; Intestine; Leukocytes; Leukocytes (neutrophilic); Life Sciences; Liver; Lymphocytes; Lysozyme; Marine fishes; Monocytes; Morphology; Nanoparticles; Oreochromis niloticus; Performance enhancement; Peroxidase; Ponds; Satiety; Serum; Superoxide dismutase; Tilapia; Weight gain; Zoology
• ISSN: 0920-1742; 1573-5168
• DOI: 10.1007/s10695-022-01066-4

The current study investigated the effects of dietary curcumin nanoparticles (C-NPs) on the performance, hemato-biochemical profile, digestive enzymes activities, antioxidant status, humoral immunity, and liver and intestinal histology of Nile tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus ). Fish (4.3 ± 0.5 g) were fed with diets enriched with 0.0 (control), 15, 30, 45, and 60 mg C-NPs/kg diet up to apparent satiety thrice a day for 60 days. The growth-stimulating effects of dietary C-NPs were significantly observed in terms of final weight, weight gain %, specific growth rate, and feed intake. Compared with the control group, serum amylase, lipase, and proteases activities of Nile tilapia significantly ( P < 0.05) increased alongside the increase in dietary levels of C-NPs in a dose-dependent manner. The counts of red blood cells and white blood cells as well as hemoglobin and hematocrit levels of Nile tilapia fed with 30–60 mg C-NPs/kg diet were statistically ( P < 0.05) higher than fish in the control group with no significant differences among them ( P > 0.05). Moreover, lymphocytes and monocytes significantly ( P > 0.05) increased; meanwhile neutrophils significantly ( P > 0.05) decreased as C-NPs levels in diets increased. In a similar trend, antioxidant (malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase) and humoral immunity (lysozyme and total immunoglobulin) biomarkers were significantly higher in C-NPs-fed fish. Liver histology showed improvements in the cell architecture of fish fed with C-NPs containing diets up to 45 mg/kg diet. Compared with the control diet, feeding Nile tilapia with C-NPs diets resulted in a higher villi length/width and absorption area. According to the regression curves, the current study recommends using the dietary C-NP with optimum values of 45–55 mg/kg diet to improve the performance, digestive enzymes, antioxidant activities, and immunity response of Nile tilapia.