Bee pollen as a dietary supplement for fish: Effect on the reproductive performance of zebrafish and the immunological response of their offspring

Chiacchio, Isabela M. Di; Paiva, Isadora Marques; Abreu, Danilo José Machado de; Carvalho, Elisângela Elena Nunes; Martínez, Pedro José Pérez; Carvalho, Stephan Malfitano; Mulero, Víctoriano; Murgas, Luís David Solis

doi:10.1016/j.fsi.2021.10.012

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Bee pollen is collected by honeybees ( Apis spp.) and is stored and used as food for all development stages in the hive [ 1 ]. Bee pollen is a honey bee derivate that is produced by mixing flower pollens with nectar (and/or) honey and bee’s salivary substances.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of Romanian Bee Pollen—An Important Nutritional Source

Oroian

Dranca

Ursachi

2022

Foods

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Bee pollen represents an important bee product, which is produced by mixing flower pollens with nectar honey and bee’s salivary substances. It represents an important source of phenolic compounds which can have great importance for importance for prophylaxis of diseases, particularly to prevent cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disorders, those having direct correlation with oxidative damage. The aim of this study was to characterize 24 bee pollen samples in terms of physicochemical parameters, organic acids, total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, individual phenolics compounds, fatty acids, and amino acids from the Nort East region of Romania, which have not been studied until now. The bee pollen can be considered as a high protein source (the mean concentration was 22.31% d.m.) with a high energy value (390.66 kcal/100 g). The total phenolic content ranged between 4.64 and 17.93 mg GAE/g, while the total flavonoid content ranged between 4.90 and 20.45 mg QE/g. The high protein content was observed in Robinia pseudoacacia, the high content of lipids was observed in Robinia pseudoacacia pollen, the high fructose content in Prunus spp. pollen while the high F/G ratio was observed in Pinaceae spp. pollen. The high TPC was observed in Prunus spp. pollen, the high TFC was observed in Robinia pseudoacacia pollen, the high free amino acid content was observed in Pinaceae spp. pollen, and the high content of PUFA was reported in Taraxacum spp. pollen. A total of 16 amino acids (eight essential and eight non-essential amino acids) were quantified in the bee pollen samples analyzed. The total content of the amino acids determined for the bee pollen samples varied between 11.31 µg/mg and 45.99 µg/mg. Our results can indicate that the bee pollen is a rich source of protein, fatty acids, amino acids and bioactive compounds.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of Romanian Bee Pollen—An Important Nutritional Source

Oroian

Dranca

Ursachi

2022

Foods

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“…Notably, it has been shown that the microbiota is able to induce the gene encoding Saa expression in the zebrafish intestine and this Saa produced in response to microbiota serves as a systemic signal to neutrophils to enhance their ability to migrate to wounds 15 . Also, in our previously work we found that offspring of zebrafish fed with bee pollen supplemented diets showed higher neutrophil migration to wounds 90 . If microorganism’s diversity can lead to varied levels of Saa protein, this factor could facilitate specific effects on host innate immune system 15 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Bee pollen in zebrafish diet affects intestinal microbiota composition and skin cutaneous melanoma development

Chiacchio

Gómez-Abenza

Paiva

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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Bee pollen is recommended as dietary supplement due to immunostimulating functions including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic properties. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of such properties is still not well understood. As diet can be associated with animal performance, microbiota modulation and potentially factor for cancer, this study aimed to analyze if bee pollen could influence growth, gut microbial and skin cutaneous melanoma development in zebrafish. Control diets based on commercial flakes and Artemia were compared with the same diet supplemented with bee pollen. Fish weight gain, increased length, intestinal bacteria metagenomics analysis, serum amyloid A gene expression and cutaneous melanoma transplantation assays were performed. Bee pollen affected microbiota composition and melanoma development. Differential abundance revealed higher abundance in the control group for Aeromonadaceae family, Aeromonas and Pseudomonas genus, A. sobria, A. schubertii, A. jandaei and P. alcaligenes species compared with pollen diet group. Pollen group presented higher abundance for Chromobacterium genus and for Gemmobacter aquaticus, Flavobacterium succinicans and Bifidobacterium breve compared with control group. Unexpectedly, fish fed with bee pollen showed higher tumor growth rate and larger tumor size than control group. This is the first study to report intestinal microbial changes and no protective cancer properties after bee pollen administration.

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“…In addition, HBP has a high antioxidant capacity [8,12,15], due to the presence of phenolic compounds [8,15,16] that are able to inactivate free radicals or to prevent their production [17], being useful in the prevention of oxidative-stress related diseases [12]. Recently, the beneficial effect of dietary supplementation with bee pollen was observed in the immune response of zebrafish [18], and also in the quality of rainbow trout fillet [19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been observed that zebrafish fed with a bee pollen-added diet showed changes in the expression of immunity-related genes with improvement in the immune response [18], and characteristics of fillet [19]. Other studies tested bee pollen in animal diets also demonstrating biological effects and nutritional functions positive for growth performance [19][20][21][22][23], immunity [8,[22][23][24], intestinal function [23,25,26], reproductive traits [20,22] and/or meat fish color and quality [19,23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Dietary Supplementation with Honeybee Pollen and Its Supercritical Fluid Extract on Immune Response and Fillet’s Quality of Farmed Gilthead Seabream (Sparus aurata)

Arena

Medeiros

Secci

et al. 2022

Animals

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The awareness of the correlation between administered diet, fish health and products’ quality has led to the increase in the research for innovative and functional feed ingredients. Herein, a plant-derived product rich in bioactive compounds, such as honeybee pollen (HBP), was included as raw (HBP) and as Supercritical Fluid Extracted (SFE) pollen (HBP_SFE) in the diet for gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata). The experiment was carried out on 90 fish with an average body weight of 294.7 ± 12.8 g, divided into five groups, according to the administration of five diets for 30 days: control diet (CTR); two diets containing HBP at 5% (P5) and at 10% (P10) level of inclusion; two diets containing HBP_SFE, at 0.5% (E0.5) and at 1% (E1) level of inclusion. Their effects were evaluated on 60 specimens (336.2 ± 11.4 g average final body weight) considering the fish growth, the expression of some hepatic genes involved in the inflammatory response (il-1β, il-6 and il-8) through quantitative real-time PCR, and physico-chemical characterization (namely color, texture, water holding capacity, fatty acid profile and lipid peroxidation) of the fish fillets monitored at the beginning (day 0) and after 110 days of storage at −20 °C. The results obtained showed that the treatment with diet E1 determined the up-regulation of il-1β, il-6, and il-8 (p < 0.05); however, this supplementation did not significantly contribute to limiting the oxidative stress. Nevertheless, no detrimental effect on color and the other physical characteristics was observed. These results suggest that a low level of HBP_SFE could be potentially utilized in aquaculture as an immunostimulant more than an antioxidant, but further investigation is necessary.

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Bee pollen as a dietary supplement for fish: Effect on the reproductive performance of zebrafish and the immunological response of their offspring

Cited by 7 publications

References 46 publications

Characterization of Romanian Bee Pollen—An Important Nutritional Source

Characterization of Romanian Bee Pollen—An Important Nutritional Source

Bee pollen in zebrafish diet affects intestinal microbiota composition and skin cutaneous melanoma development

Effects of Dietary Supplementation with Honeybee Pollen and Its Supercritical Fluid Extract on Immune Response and Fillet’s Quality of Farmed Gilthead Seabream (Sparus aurata)

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