Commensal priming of zebrafish embryos further impacts their offspring mucosal immunity and disease resistance (original) (raw)

The variated environmental stimuli interacting at the mucosal surfaces on vertebrates are critical threats affecting their health status. However, the long-term effects and the possible heritability of the same have not been approached. This study sought to investigate whether a lack of bacterial priming in newly hatched zebrafish (ZF) embryos affects development, survival, life span, and immune competence. To address this hypothesis, we raised wild-type ZF in either germ-free (GF) or conventional (CONR) conditions until 7 days post fertilization (dpf). After that, GF and CONR larvae were housed in our general ZF facility and reared indefinitely in similar diets and environmental conditions. Starting from 10 dpf, growth, survival, and histological changes in the gut were analyzed and recorded for several months. Surprisingly, morphometric measurements revealed that ex-GF animals present a greater size and show reduced natural mortality than their CONR siblings. Moreover, gut morphology observations through histochemical preparations of 90 dpf ZF revealed a significantly reduced number of goblet cells, suggesting a reduced mucus hydrogel layer in ex-GF ZF. Strikingly, the offspring of ex-GF animals were more susceptible to a bacterial challenge. Studies in progress revealed that some immune mechanisms involved in commensal priming at the early developmental stages have a long impact along with development, providing enhanced physiological characteristics to the adults that further transmitted enhanced disease resistance to their offspring. The preliminary results point toward epigenetic changes as mediators of the response, but to test the hypothesis studies are in progress.

Sign up for access to the world's latest research.

checkGet notified about relevant papers

checkSave papers to use in your research

checkJoin the discussion with peers

checkTrack your impact