Recent studies on the role of carotenoids in aquaculture have investigated their function in regulating pigmentation, growth, survival, and immune activity of aquatic animals. These carotenoids include astaxanthin, ca...Recent studies on the role of carotenoids in aquaculture have investigated their function in regulating pigmentation, growth, survival, and immune activity of aquatic animals. These carotenoids include astaxanthin, canthaxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin, and tunaxanthin. Astaxanthin and canthaxanthin are the main synthetic carotenoids used world-wide in the aquaculture industry. They play an important role in protecting cells and organisms against photosensitized oxidations. Direct evidence of carotenoids functioning as antioxidants in vivo has been reported in animal models. In addition to their established biological effects as antioxidants, carotenoids appear to have a great variety of cellular actions that make them remarkable physiological modulators. Consequently, recent attention has been focused on improving our understanding of carotenoids on the physiology and metabolism in aquatic animals with a view to enhance the efficacy of astaxanthin as a carotenoid pigment. This review aims to summarize the function and research progress of carotenoids in aquaculture. We discuss the methods used to study the absorption, transport, metabolic transformation and deposition of carotenoids, and their spatial and temporal expression.展开更多
基金supported by China Scholarship Council’s Postgraduate Program(National High Lev-el University Construction)the Central Institute of Public Welfare Project ( No .2009TS29 and No .2010YD02)the Key Lab of Freshwater Ecologyand Healthy Aquaculture, CAFS ( No .2010FEA03007)
文摘Recent studies on the role of carotenoids in aquaculture have investigated their function in regulating pigmentation, growth, survival, and immune activity of aquatic animals. These carotenoids include astaxanthin, canthaxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin, and tunaxanthin. Astaxanthin and canthaxanthin are the main synthetic carotenoids used world-wide in the aquaculture industry. They play an important role in protecting cells and organisms against photosensitized oxidations. Direct evidence of carotenoids functioning as antioxidants in vivo has been reported in animal models. In addition to their established biological effects as antioxidants, carotenoids appear to have a great variety of cellular actions that make them remarkable physiological modulators. Consequently, recent attention has been focused on improving our understanding of carotenoids on the physiology and metabolism in aquatic animals with a view to enhance the efficacy of astaxanthin as a carotenoid pigment. This review aims to summarize the function and research progress of carotenoids in aquaculture. We discuss the methods used to study the absorption, transport, metabolic transformation and deposition of carotenoids, and their spatial and temporal expression.
