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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Comparative Immunology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1557256
This article is part of the Research Topic Community Series in Aquatic Nutrition and Intestine Immunity: Volume II View all 3 articles
Effect of dietar y Clostridium butyricum supplementation on gr owth per for mance, immune function, and intestinal health of hybr id gr ouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus ♀ × Epinephelus lanceolatus ♂)
Provisionally accepted- Fisheries College, Jimei University, Xiamen, China
This study investigated the effects of supplementing Clostridium butyricum (C. butyricum) in the feed of hybrid groupers (E. fuscoguttatus ♀ × E. lanceolatus ♂). Growth performance, blood components, intestinal antioxidant capacity, intestinal microbiota, tight junction protein expression, and inflammatory gene expression were evaluated. The experiment included four groups: a control group (CON) receiving basal feed and three experimental groups, each receiving a different strain of C. butyricum (KM, DZN, and CLH) at a concentration of 1 × 10⁷ colony-forming units per gram, designated as CB1 (KM), CB2 (DZN), and CB3 (CLH) respectively. The results indicated that C. butyricum supplementation had no significant effect on percentage weight gain (WG), feed efficiency (FE), and body composition. However, CB3 significantly enhanced intestinal activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), as well as the intestinal expression level of zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1). Additionally, it increased serum lysozyme (LZM) activity, complement 4 (C4) levels and immunoglobulin M (IgM) levels, and reduced the expression levels of pro-inflammatory genes (IL-1β and Ikk-β). Dietary administration of C. butyricum decreased levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) compared with CON group, suggesting a reduction in intestinal oxidative stress. Supplementing C. butyricum changed gut microbiota composition by promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria and suppressing pathogenic bacteria, which contributed to increased ZO-1 expression and enhanced intestinal barrier function. As results, supplementing with C. butyricum can improve the serum immune parameters of hybrid groupers, alleviate intestinal inflammation and oxidative stress, and enhance intestinal health, with a primary role in promoting fish health.
Keywords: Clostridium butyricum, Hybrid grouper, Growth, Immune function, Gut Microbiota
Received: 08 Jan 2025; Accepted: 10 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 jun, Song, Li, Chen, Wang and Ye. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Chen wei jun, Fisheries College, Jimei University, Xiamen, China
Jidan Ye, Fisheries College, Jimei University, Xiamen, China
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