Key Laboratory of Mariculture &Stock Enhancement in North China’s Sea,Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs,Dalian Ocean University,Dalian 116023,China
To investigate whether immune priming exists in sea urchin (Strongylocentrotusintermedius), twice infection with Vibrioechinoideorum was conducted. Differences in immune parameters such as phagocytic amoebocyte density, red spherule cell density, phagocytic rate, phagocytic index, acid phosphatase activity (ACP), reactive oxygen species (ROS) content, and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) between the two time infections were compared. Difference in survival rate post challenge between immune priming group and control group were also compared. The results showed that the total coelomocytes cell density, phagocyte density, ACP, ROS and T-AOC in the induced immune priming group increased significantly after the second infections (P<0.05), and the response time to the maximum was 36, 36, 84, 12 and 36 h earlier respectively, and the peak values were significantly higher than those in the first infection (P<0.05). The phagocytosis rate was significantly higher in the induced priming group (45.41%±6.39%) than that in the control group (33.17%±1.94%) at 6 h post infection. The survival rate was significantly higher in the induced immune priming group (43.33%±10.00%) than that in the uninduced positive control group (7.78%±10.71%) (P<0.05). The findings indicate that low concentrations of V.echinoideorum can induce immune priming in the sea urchin, which provides new ideas for prevention and control of diseases in sea urchin.