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European Aquaculture Society, Special Publication No. 36~ Oostende, Belgium, 2005
Introduction
As soon as any foreign particle invades, the immune system of the host de
tects it, mounts immune response against it, and eliminates it from the host
body as quickly as possible. This is called antigen clearance. Antigen clearance
is associated with a downregulation of the immune response and apoptosis of
most antigen-specific T-cells (Buckland, 2004). Though antigen clearance has
been studied in several mammals by various techniques, no such study has
been conducted with fishes. Achyranthes aspera, L. (Family: Amaranthaceae)
is an herb that stimulates the non-specific immunity of carps (Vasudeva et al.,
2004; Vasudeva and Chakrabarti, 2005). This investigation aims to study the
effects of A. aspe.ra in antigen clearance from the spleen of Indian majorcarp
Labeo rohita, rohu.
it
!!
The host's immune system recognized the invading antigen and tried to clear it
as quickly as possible to confer safety of the host and to protect the host from the
onset of infection. The treatment with itraconazole reduces the concentration of
histoplasma antigen in blood and urine, suggesting the rapid clearance of
fungemia (Joseph et al., 2002). In the present study. high amount of BSAwas
found in the spleen of control fish even 14d after immunization. The immune
system of this carp is therefore poor in clearing the invaded antigen;_ hence high
mortality is recorded in this species during disease outbreaks. The feeding of
plant-incorporated diet may boost the immune system of this fish.
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In conclusion, treatment with A. aspera has enhanced the immunity ofL. rohita
that has efficiently eliminated the BSA from the system compared to the control.
References
Buckland J. 2004 Viral Immunity: Role for Bim in termination of immune re
sponses. Nature Rev. Immunol. 4:9
Joseph L.W., P. Connolly, N. Haddad, A. Le Monte. E. Brizendine, and R. Haf
ner. 2002. Antigen clearance during treatment of disseminated Histoplasmo
sis with itraconazole versus fluconazole in patients with AIDS. Antimicrobial
Agents and Chemotherapy 46:248-250.
Vasudeva R.Y., R.M. Singh, A. Singh, and R. Chakrabarti. 2004. Potentiation of
antibody production in Indian major carp Labeo rohita, rohu by Achyranthes
. aspera as a herbal feed ingredient. Aquaculture 238:67-73.
Vasudeva R.Y. and R. Chakrabarti. 2005. Stimulation of immunity in Indian ma
jor carp Catla catla with herbal feed ingredients. Fish & Shellfish Immunol
ogy 18:327-334.