Abstract
Tilapia is one of the most consumed farmed fish, which requires the use of antibiotics in certain phases of its production. This study assessed the safety of 30 days of oral florfenicol (FFC) dosing at 0–10 times the therapeutic dose (1 × : 10 mg/kg biomass/day) in Oreochromis niloticus juveniles. Behavioural changes, feed consumption, mortality and biomass were evaluated. Besides, the levels of serum glucose, calcium, chloride, creatinine, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase and blood cell morphology were determined at scheduled intervals. The 30 days of oral FFC dosing caused 3.33% (1 ×) to 18.33% (10 ×) mortalities, reduced feed intake and biomass in a dose-dependent manner. The fish fed the therapeutic dose recorded 1.25-fold increase in biomass, while the control group recorded 1.45-fold increase in 30 days. No significant erythrocyte morphological alterations were observed in the 1 × group compared to the control. However, marked morphological alterations like tear-shaped, spindle-shaped and degenerative erythrocytes in higher dosing groups indicated FFC cytotoxicity. All the serum biomarkers of O. niloticus increased significantly on day 10 and day 30 FFC dosing in a dose-dependent manner, except for calcium and chloride, which reduced significantly during the dosing period. Within 2 weeks of suspension of FFC dosing, the serum biomarker levels became normal except for alkaline phosphatase and creatinine. The recovery of biomass, feed intake, serum biomarker levels and erythrocyte morphological changes suggested that the FFC-induced changes are reversible. This study has, thus, proclaimed the safety of FFC at the therapeutic dose in O. niloticus.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Vice-Chancellor, West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences, Kolkata, for providing the necessary facilities for carrying out this work. The work was supported by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Government of India, New Delhi, under the All-India Network Project on Fish Health (Grant F. No. CIBA/AINP-FH/2015-16 dated 02.06.2015).
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The authors received funding from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Government of India, New Delhi, under the All-India Network Project on Fish Health (Grant F. No. CIBA/AINP-FH/2015–16 dated 02.06.2015).
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AB: performed the wet laboratory experiments, laboratory investigation, data generation, statistical analyses, interpretation of the data and writing-original draft preparation; TJA: conceptualization, methodology, project administration, supervision, resource mobilization, writing-reviewing and editing; JS, SS and SS: performed the wet laboratory experiments, laboratory analysis, data generation and data curation; PKP: conceptualization, methodology and funding. All authors agreed with the results and conclusions.
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The current study was performed in compliance with the guidelines of the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA), Government of India. The experimental protocols were approved by the ICAR, Government of India, New Delhi, under the All-India Network Project on Fish Health (F. No. CIBA/AINP-FH/2015–16 dated 16.7.2015).
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Bardhan, A., Abraham, T.J., Singha, J. et al. The effects of extended feeding of florfenicol coated medicated diets on the safety, serum biomarkers and blood cells morphology of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (L.). Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 39914–39927 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-18418-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-18418-x