Development Of Arte Mia As An Alternative Infection Model For The Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease (Ahpnd) In Penaeid Shrimps

Abstract

This study validated Artemia nauplii as an alternative infection model to assess the virulence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus, the causative agent of the Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease (AHPND). The notion of this study was based on the fact that both Artemia and penaeid shrimps have a similar innate immune system. We challenged Vibrio-free Artemia and shrimp with five different strains of V. parahaemolyticus:i) BLO3; ii)TVT2.1R; iii) TVT2.2R; iv) 902 and v) 2.12; and compared mortality after three days. Results showed that the Artemia model exhibited the same response in mortality as shrimp did: 97-100% in group challenged with high virulence pathogen, 68.5-69.5% in group challenged with medium virulence pathogen, and 0-3.5% in group challenge with low virulence pathogen. This important finding confirmed the reliability and capacity of the Artemia model as a replacement for shrimp model. Furthermore, it suggests the use of Artemia model as a cost-effective tool to study V. parahaemolyticus and AHPND. Key words: Artemia nauplii Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Sysdrome (AHPNS) Brine shrimp Early mortality syndrome (EMS) Vibrio parahaemolyticus Virulence assay