Alteration of the haemocyte parameters, expression of immune-related and neurohormone bursicon genes of giant river prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii (de Man) in the response to salinity stress and ammonia stress

Abstract

© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd We examined the effects of salinity stress and ammonia stress on alteration of the haemocyte count, phenoloxidase activity, expressions of immune-related genes including prophenoloxidase (proPO), crustin, heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), and expressions of stress-responsive neurohormone (Bur-α and Bur-β) in the thoracic and abdominal ganglia of giant river prawn Macrobrachium. These parameters of prawn that subjected to salinity stress (transferred from 0‰ to 5‰ and 10‰), and subjected to ammonia-nitrogen (ammonia-N) stress (transferred from 0 to 0.262 mg/L and 0.786 mg/L) were examined after 0, 3, 6, 24, 72 and 168 hr respectively. During the initial period of 3, 6 and 24 hr, granulocyte haemocyte (granular and semi-granular hemocyte) count and PO activity significantly decreased, while expressions of Bur-α and Bur-β significantly increased. After 24 hr, granulocyte haemocyte count and PO activity significantly increased, whereas expressions of Bur-α and Bur-β significantly decreased. The expressions of proPO, crustin and HSP70 were significantly downregulated in the prawn that subjected to salinity stress and ammonia-N stress at all time periods of 3–168 hr. In conclusion, changes in the granulocyte haemocyte count of M. rosenbergii following salinity stress and ammonia-N stress are closely associated with the changes of Bur-α and Bur-β expressions.