Development of an inactivated iridovirus vaccine against turbot viral reddish body syndrome

Abstract

Turbot (Scophthalmus maximus L.) reddish body iridovirus (TRBIV) was propagated in turbot fin cells (TF cells) and inactivated as the TRBIV vaccine with its protection efficiency evaluated in this study. TF cells were cultured in 10% bovine calf serum (BCS)-containing MEM medium (pH7.0) at 22°C, in which TRBIV propagated to a titer as high as 105.6 TCID50 mL−1. The TRBIV was inactivated with 0.1% formalin and formulated with 0.5% aluminum hydroxide. The inactivated vaccine caused neither cytopathogenic effect (CPE) on TF cells nor pathogenic effect on turbots. After being administered with the vaccine twice via muscle injection, the turbot developed high-tittered TRBIV neutralizing antibodies in a dose-dependent manner. The vaccine protected the turbot from dying with an immunoprotection rate of 83.3% as was determined via subcutaneous vaccination in the laboratory and 90.5% via bath vaccination in turbot farms, respectively. The inactivated vaccine was very immunogenic, efficiently preventing turbot from death. It holds the potential of being applied in aquaculture.