Adverse effects of chronic ammonia stress on juvenile oriental river prawn (Macrobrachium nipponense) and alteration of glucose and ammonia metabolism

Abstract

Ammonia is one of the common stress factors in aquaculture. However, the effect of chronic ammonia exposure in juvenile oriental river prawn (Macrobrachium nipponense) is currently unexplored. This study explored the effects of chronic ammonia on juvenile healthy oriental river prawns. Fifty prawns (0.123 ± 0.003 g) were exposed to 0, 5, and 15 mg/L total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) in triplicates for 28 days. The effects of chronic ammonia challenge were evaluated on growth, antioxidant capacity, hepatopancreas and gill morphology, and glucose and ammonia metabolism. The results showed that, the chronic ammonia exposure reduced significantly survival rate and weight gain of prawns.The prawns exposed to 15 mg/L ammonia had induced oxidative stress. However, the prawn exposed to 15 mg/L ammonia had significantly lower aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, and acid phosphatase activities in the serum. Furthermore, exposure of prawns to 15 mg/L ammonia increased the activities of hexokinase, pyruvate kinase, pyruvate and lactic acid content, and glutamine synthase activity. However, the prawns exposed to 15 mg/L ammonia, reduced succinic dehydrogenase, 6-phosphogluconic dehydrogenase, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, glutamate synthase, and glutamate dehydrogenase activities but increased ammonia content in serum. The exposure of ammonia deformed lumen, damaged basement membrane and decreased secretory cells in the hepatopancreas, disordered gill epithelial and pillar cells, and caused gill filament base vacuolation. Our study indicates that chronic ammonia stress impairs growth performance, tissue morphology, induces oxidative stress, and alters glucose and ammonia metabolism in juvenile oriental river prawns.

Combined effects of dietary carbohydrate levels and ammonia stress on growth, antioxidant capacity and glucose metabolism in juvenile oriental river prawn (Macrobrachium nipponense)

“…However, industrial pollution, high‐density culture resulting in water pollution, and stress from various environmental factors have led to the destruction of its suitable ecological habitat (Bouwman et al, 2011; Chang et al, 2020). These factors have slowed growth of prawns, lowered immunity, and caused disease outbreaks, which impair their healthy development in aquaculture (Foss et al, 2003; Mohapatra et al, 2013; Wei et al, 2023; Zhang, Hou, et al, 2019; Zhang, Xia, et al, 2019). Among the many environmental factors, ammonia is one of the common stressors (Pan et al, 2017; Kong et al, 2022; Wei et al, 2023).…”

“…These factors have slowed growth of prawns, lowered immunity, and caused disease outbreaks, which impair their healthy development in aquaculture (Foss et al, 2003; Mohapatra et al, 2013; Wei et al, 2023; Zhang, Hou, et al, 2019; Zhang, Xia, et al, 2019). Among the many environmental factors, ammonia is one of the common stressors (Pan et al, 2017; Kong et al, 2022; Wei et al, 2023). Ammonia in aquaculture systems mainly originates from protein catabolism in the body and organic waste degradation in the environment (Chen et al, 2012; Wei et al, 2023).…”

“…Among the many environmental factors, ammonia is one of the common stressors (Pan et al, 2017; Kong et al, 2022; Wei et al, 2023). Ammonia in aquaculture systems mainly originates from protein catabolism in the body and organic waste degradation in the environment (Chen et al, 2012; Wei et al, 2023). When ammonia exceeds the tolerable threshold of the cultured animals, it induces tissue damage and oxidative stress and alters glucose metabolism, which retard growth performance (Chen et al, 2019; Wei et al, 2023; Zhang, Hou, et al, 2019).…”

“…Ammonia in aquaculture systems mainly originates from protein catabolism in the body and organic waste degradation in the environment (Chen et al, 2012; Wei et al, 2023). When ammonia exceeds the tolerable threshold of the cultured animals, it induces tissue damage and oxidative stress and alters glucose metabolism, which retard growth performance (Chen et al, 2019; Wei et al, 2023; Zhang, Hou, et al, 2019). Therefore, alleviating adverse effects of ammonia stress has become a hot research topic in aquaculture.…”

“…Carbohydrate is an economical direct energy source to counteract increasing fuel demand against adverse effects during stress (Shan et al, 2019; Wei et al, 2023). Previous studies indicated that aquatic animals usually modify energy metabolism under stressful conditions by preferentially using carbohydrates for energy supply (Shan et al, 2019; Wei et al, 2023; Zhao et al, 2020).…”