Vitamin A deficiency suppresses fish immune function with differences in different intestinal segments: the role of transcriptional factor NF-kappa B and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase signalling pathways

The present study investigated the effects of dietary vitamin A on immune function in the proximal intestine (PI), mid intestine (MI) and distal intestine (DI) of young grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). Fish were fed graded levels of dietary vitamin A for 10 weeks, and then a challenge test using an injection of Aeromonas hydrophila was conducted for 14 d. The results showed that, compared with the optimum vitamin A level, vitamin A deficiency significantly decreased fish growth performance, increased enteritis morbidity, decreased intestinal innate humoral immune response and aggravated intestinal inflammation. However, liver-expressed antimicrobial peptide 2A/B mRNA in the DI and IL-6, IL-17D, IL-10, transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta 1 and TGF-beta 2 mRNA in the PI were not affected by vitamin A levels. Meanwhile, vitamin A deficiency disturbed inflammatory cytokines in the PI, MI and DI, which might be partly linked to p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38MAPK) signalling and NF-kappa B canonical signalling pathway (I kappa B kinase beta (IKK beta), IKK gamma, inhibitor of kappa B alpha, NF-kappa B p65 and c-Rel) rather than NF-kappa B non-canonical signalling pathway (NF-kappa B p52 and IKK alpha). However, the signalling molecules NF-kappa B p65 and p38MAPK did not participate in regulating cytokines in the PI. These results suggested that vitamin A deficiency decreased fish growth and impaired intestinal immune function, and that different immune responses in the PI, MI and DI were mediated partly by NF-kappa B canonical signalling and p38MAPK signalling pathways. On the basis of percentage of weight gain, to protect fish against enteritis morbidity and acid phosphatase activity, the optimum dietary vitamin A levels were estimated to be 0.664, 0.707 and 0.722 mg/kg, respectively.