However, until recently, scientists believed that cold-blooded jawed vertebrates such as fish did not have these specialized structures. This led them to wonder how these fish, called teleost fish, such as cod, salmon and rainbow trout, were able to mount an immune response.
With support from USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine scientists have discovered, contrary to earlier belief, that fish develop an antibody response in similar structures located in the spleen. J. Oriol Sunyer, professor of immunology at Penn Vet, said this finding is significant because scientists now know how and where antibody responses are produced in these economically important fish.
Only a handful of fish vaccines produce highly protective responses against diseases. Most vaccines currently used for aquaculture are not so effective in protection fish against disease. Additionally, there are many old and emerging new fish pathogens for which vaccines currently do not exist.
A major problem that has thwarted the generation of more effective fish vaccines has been the lack of knowledge on how and where antibody responses are induced in fish. Thus, these findings significantly close this gap of knowledge, and will now allow the development of more effective vaccines for fish.
“In turn, this will reduce fish mortalities in fish farms, which will make fish farms more cost-effective, and this will lead to reduced prices of farmed fish, making farmed fish more affordable for the general population,” Sunyer said. “This will positively impact the overall health of the population as fish represent a healthier and sometimes less expensive source of protein when compared to other protein sources, including red meat.”
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Categories: Pennsylvania, Education