Prevention of soya-induced enteritis in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) by bacteria grown on natural gas is dose dependent and related to epithelial MHC II reactivity and CD8α+ intraepithelial lymphocytes.

An experiment was carried out to study the preventive effect of bacterial meal (BM) produced from natural gas against plant-induced enteropathy in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Salmon were fed a diet based on fish meal (FM) or seven diets with 200 g/kg solvent-extracted soyabean meal (SBM) to induce enteritis in combination with increasing levels of BM from 0 to 300 g/kg. Salmon fed a SBM-containing diet without BM developed typical SBM-induced enteritis. The enteritis gradually disappeared with increasing inclusion of BM. By morphometry, no significant (P>0.05) differences in the size of stretches stained for proliferating cell nuclear antigen were found with 150 g/kg BM compared with the FM diet. Increasing BM inclusion caused a gradual decline in the number of cluster of differentiation 8 α positive (CD8α+) intraepithelial lymphocytes, and fish fed BM at 200 g/kg or higher revealed no significant difference from the FM diet. Histological sections stained with antibody for MHC class II (MHC II) showed that fish with intestinal inflammation had more MHC II-reactive cells in the lamina propria and submucosa, but less in the epithelium and brush border, compared with fish without inflammation. There were no significant (P>0.05) differences in growth among the diets, but the highest levels of BM slightly reduced protein digestibility and increased the weight of the distal intestine. In conclusion, the prevention of SBM-induced enteritis by BM is dose dependent and related to intestinal levels of MHC II- and CD8α-reactive cells.

Bacteria grown on natural gas prevent soybean meal-induced enteritis in Atlantic salmon.

Dietary inclusion of solvent extracted soybean meal (SBM) is associated with inflammation in the distal intestine of salmonid fish, commonly referred to as SBM-induced enteritis. The enteritis is linked to alcohol soluble components in SBM, but the mechanisms have not been established. Previous studies show that bacterial meal (BM) containing mainly Methylococcus capsulatus grown on natural gas is a suitable protein source for salmonids. The BM is rich in nucleotides, phospholipids, and small peptides that might be beneficial for intestinal homeostasis. In this study, a fish meal (FM)-based control diet (FM diet) and diets with 200 g/kg SBM (SBM diet), 300 g/kg BM (BM diet), and 300 g/kg BM and 200 g/kg SBM (BM-SBM diet) were fed to juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) for 80 d. Dietary inclusion of SBM reduced growth (P = 0.007). Inclusion of BM reduced digestibility of protein (P = 0.002) and lipids (P = 0.011) and increased (P < 0.01) the relative weights (g/kg whole body) of total gut, liver, and stomach, and mid and distal intestine. Fish fed the SBM diet developed enteritis, lacked carbonic anhydrase 12 in the brush border of epithelial cells in distal intestine, and had more epithelial cells reacting for proliferating cell nuclear antigen compared with fish fed the other diets. Fish fed the same amount of SBM combined with BM showed no signs of inflammation in the distal intestine. Our results demonstrate that BM grown on natural gas can be used to prevent SBM-induced enteritis in Atlantic salmon.