Maternal immunity plays a vital role in protecting offspring from pathogen invasion,and it is present in nearly all vertebrates.As the most ancient vertebrates,teleost fish continuously secrete a substantial amount of...Maternal immunity plays a vital role in protecting offspring from pathogen invasion,and it is present in nearly all vertebrates.As the most ancient vertebrates,teleost fish continuously secrete a substantial amount of mucus due to their unique living environment,and often exhibit schooling behavior.Previous studies have highlighted the presence of numerous immune components in the mucus of fish,that plays a crucial role in resisting pathogens.We hypothesize that this represents a distinctive maternal immune response mechanism in fish.In this study,we established a dextran sulfate sodium(DSS)-induced injury model by immersing zebrafish larvae in 0.5%DSS.This elicited robust inflammatory responses and showed DSS-induced alterations in microbial abundance via 16S rRNA sequencing.These changes included the disruption of normal gut structure;an increase in goblet cells;increased expression of inflammatory cytokines;and infiltration of neutrophils and macrophages into the gut,as well as an increase in pathogenic bacteria and a decline in probiotic bacteria.Furthermore,we conducted a mucus protection test by adding adult zebrafish mucus in fish tank water containing 0.5%DSS to test our hypothesis.As suspected,the mucus from adult zebrafish exhibited a protective role in defending zebrafish larvae against DSSinduced enteritis by alleviating excessive inflammatory responses and increasing probiotic abundance.In conclusion,our results confirm a significant role of adult fish mucus in the immune response of teleost fish to DSSinduced inflammation.Collectively,our findings show that the mucus of adult zebrafish may represent a novel form of maternal immunization,playing roles analogous to mammalian milk in immune regulatory functions.展开更多
基金supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(32225050,32073001)to Z.X.
文摘Maternal immunity plays a vital role in protecting offspring from pathogen invasion,and it is present in nearly all vertebrates.As the most ancient vertebrates,teleost fish continuously secrete a substantial amount of mucus due to their unique living environment,and often exhibit schooling behavior.Previous studies have highlighted the presence of numerous immune components in the mucus of fish,that plays a crucial role in resisting pathogens.We hypothesize that this represents a distinctive maternal immune response mechanism in fish.In this study,we established a dextran sulfate sodium(DSS)-induced injury model by immersing zebrafish larvae in 0.5%DSS.This elicited robust inflammatory responses and showed DSS-induced alterations in microbial abundance via 16S rRNA sequencing.These changes included the disruption of normal gut structure;an increase in goblet cells;increased expression of inflammatory cytokines;and infiltration of neutrophils and macrophages into the gut,as well as an increase in pathogenic bacteria and a decline in probiotic bacteria.Furthermore,we conducted a mucus protection test by adding adult zebrafish mucus in fish tank water containing 0.5%DSS to test our hypothesis.As suspected,the mucus from adult zebrafish exhibited a protective role in defending zebrafish larvae against DSSinduced enteritis by alleviating excessive inflammatory responses and increasing probiotic abundance.In conclusion,our results confirm a significant role of adult fish mucus in the immune response of teleost fish to DSSinduced inflammation.Collectively,our findings show that the mucus of adult zebrafish may represent a novel form of maternal immunization,playing roles analogous to mammalian milk in immune regulatory functions.
