Abstract
AbstractZebrafish is a worldwide used animal model to better understand cultured fish species; thus, in the last two decades, zebrafish facilities have been created in many aquaculture research centres. However, and despite the attempts of rigorous aseptic conditions for animal husbandry in wet laboratory facilities, the presence of parasites cannot be underestimated. The microsporidium Pseudoloma neurophilia, which mostly affects the central nervous system, has been listed as the most prevalent parasite in reared zebrafish. The emergence of P. neurophilia is usually detected when the individual presents irreversible morphological and/or behavioural symptoms, and consequently, the spread of the disease is inevitable, indicating that the infection is expanded across rearing tanks. This review attempts, for the first time, to collect and discuss the current information on P. neurophilia life cycle, target tissues and symptomatology of the infection occurred in zebrafish. Due to its vertical transmission together with the increasing presence of zebrafish as a model in reproduction‐related problems found in aquaculture, it is highlighted, among others, the sexual dimorphism of the pathogenic effects and the possible transgenerational implications of parasitic infections. Further, to date none effective treatments have been described, so here we provide in detail available diagnostic methods, discussing the importance of the early detection, giving safety‐rearing recommendations to decrease the presence of P. neurophilia. Our intention is to minimize parasite outbreaks in zebrafish facilities, which, on the one hand, can compromise zebrafish welfare, and on the other hand, could interfere furtively in the resulting research previously designed for improving aquaculture production but also other biomedical‐related research.
Highlights
During the last two decades, the use of model fish species in improving aquaculture research has been increased, and zebrafish (Danio rerio (Hamilton 1822)) is one of the fish model species with a higher expansion (Ribas & Piferrer 2014; Piferrer & Ribas 2020)
The increase in the number of publications using zebrafish has been evidenced by the fact that by doing the same search, in six years it has passed from 204 manuscripts (Ribas & Piferrer 2014) up to 685
Due to the importance of infection of this parasite in the reproductive tissues, here we further report its effects of infestation and alterations in the reproduction system
Summary
During the last two decades, the use of model fish species in improving aquaculture research has been increased, and zebrafish (Danio rerio (Hamilton 1822)) is one of the fish model species with a higher expansion (Ribas & Piferrer 2014; Piferrer & Ribas 2020). In Atlantic salmon, embryos stimulated with LPS showed an alteration of the methylome and the transcriptome when adults, the epigenetic inheritance was not studied (Uren Webster et al 2018) Since this transgenerational immune priming involves ecological and evolutionary consequences and can modify disease dynamics and epidemic spreading (Beemelmanns & Roth 2017), it is interesting to address whether exposure to P. neurophilia in past generations can give a clue on potential heritable trait in fish. There is a lack of data in fish species and most of the studies refer to transgenerational effects rather than transgenerational immune priming effects Examples of this kind are done in zebrafish in which temperature altered epigenetic patterns in testis of unexposed F1 generation (Valdivieso et al 2020). Due to the lack of data in this research field, we believed that a better comprehension of parasitic infections by P. neurophilia will help to develop screening methods for coping this parasitic infection that could be transferred in aquaculture production, incorporating, for example, innate disease resistance into selectivebreeding programmes
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