Effects of Dietary Bitter Melon Extract on Growth Performance, Antioxidant Capacity, Inflammatory Cytokines Expression, and Intestinal Microbiota in Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio L.)

Abstract

Bitter melon extract (BME), which contains a variety of natural bioactive substances, has diversified biological functions. The present study is aimed at evaluating the effects of dietary supplementation of BME on growth performance, antioxidant capacity, inflammatory cytokine expression, and intestinal microbiota in common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.). An 8-week feeding trial was conducted using four isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets containing different levels of BME (0%, 0.25%, 0.5%, and 1% for control, LBME, MBME, and HBME groups, respectively). The results showed that there were no significant differences in the growth performance of common carp among all groups, including final body weight (FBW), weight gain rate (WGR), specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and viscera index (VSI) ( p > 0.05 ), but the condition factor (CF) was decreased by all BME treatments ( p < 0.05 ). Serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was significantly improved in all BME groups ( p < 0.05 ), and serum catalase (CAT) activity was significantly higher in the MBME group ( p < 0.05 ). Serum malondialdehyde (MDA) level was lowest while serum total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) was highest in the HBME group ( p < 0.05 ). Dietary BME supplementation inhibited proinflammatory cytokine (il-1β and il-8) mRNA expression, while anti-inflammatory cytokine (il-6 and il-10) mRNA expressions were promoted ( p < 0.05 ). Furthermore, principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) showed that there were no differences in bacterial communities among different groups, and Shannon index and Simpson index of intestinal microbiota were unaffected ( p > 0.05 ). Whereas dietary BME reduced Firmicutes abundance and the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes at phylum level, the relative abundance of streptococcaceae at family level, Streptococcus and Exiguobacterium at genus level were also decreased ( p < 0.05 ). Overall, these results suggested that dietary supplementation of BME improved serum antioxidant capacity, anti-inflammatory activity, and modified intestinal microbiota in common carp.

Effect of Dietary Polyherbal Mixture on Growth Performance, Haemato-Immunological Indices, Antioxidant Responses, and Intestinal Morphometry of African Catfish, Clarias gariepinus

“…The antioxidant defense system protects cells from oxidative damage and is closely related to the immune system and health status of fish [50,51]. In this study, fish fed a diet based on PHB showed a higher induction of SOD and CAT enzymes, especially in PHB-0.5 and PHB-1.0, compared to the control, and this indicates that PHB has the ability to enhance the antioxidant defense system in African catfish.…”

“…Similarly, supplementation with the Chinese herbal medicine mixture significantly improved the activities of SOD and CAT in European eel [11] and Japanese seabass [17]. Other studies have also reported the enhancing effects of different herbs, singly or in combination, on the fish antioxidant enzyme system [4,12,44,51]. Therefore, the higher activities of SOD and CAT correspond to the higher heterophil counts recorded in PHB-0.5 and PHB-1.0, which means that PHB has the potential to modulate nonspecific immunity and antioxidant enzyme responses in African catfish, and this could be related to the biological active compounds present in the mixed herb.…”

Effects of Dietary Medlar (Mespilus germanica L.) Extract on Growth Performance, Innate Immune Characteristics, Antioxidant Status, and Responses to Crowding Stress in Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

“…Meanwhile, after the stress, MDA decreased and CAT and SOD increased in the treated rainbow trout [ 25 ]. The enhancing effects of the plant's extracts on the fish antioxidant system have been reported in many spices like common carp treated with common mallow ( Malvae sylvestris ), oregano ( Origanum vulgare ), and Persian shallot ( Allium hirtifolium boiss) [ 49 ], coriander ( Coriandrum sativum ), common mallow ( M. sylvestris ) fed oak acorn ( Quercus brantii ) [ 50 ], bitter melon extract ( Momordica charantia ) [ 51 ], Nile tilapia fed thyme powder ( Thymus vulgaris ) [ 52 ].…”

Importance of Certain Varieties of Cucurbits in Enhancing Health: A Review

“…Another study showed that glucan endo-1,3-beta-glucosidase (BG-4), a 4 kilodaltons (kDa) peptide extracted from bitter gourd seeds using 70% ethanol, has exceedingly strong trypsin-inhibiting activity [86]. The findings of a murine study (RAW2642) investigating the impact of M. charantia on impaired glucose metabolism induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) revealed that M. charantia reduced the expression of inflammatory genes including Interleukin 6 (IL6), TNF-α, Interleukin 1 (IL1), cyclooxygenase-2(COX2), Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and Interleukin 10 (IL10) [87]. Bitter melon extract (BME) inhibited IL-1 mRNA expression in the head kidney, spleen, and intestine of common carps, indicating that BME is a positive expression in inflammatory cytokines [88].…”