Journal of Probiotics & Health

Journal of Probiotics & Health
Open Access

ISSN: 2329-8901

+44 1223 790975

Research Article - (2018) Volume 6, Issue 1

Evaluation of the Efficacy of Probiotics in vitro Against Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Causative Agent of Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease in Shrimp

Gustavo Pinoargote and Sadhana Ravishankar*
School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences, University of Arizona, USA
*Corresponding Author: Sadhana Ravishankar, School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences, The University of Arizona, 1117 East Lowell Street, Tucson, Arizona, 85721, USA, Tel: 520-626-1499 Email:

Abstract

Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) is a devastating disease affecting aquaculture shrimp industry around the world. Probiotics may provide an effective approach to reduce the detrimental impact of this disease in shrimp ponds. The present study was conducted to determine the inhibitory effects of probiotics against the Vibrio parahaemolyticus strain that causes AHPND. Probiotic solutions (whole microbial cultures and supernatants) consisting of three microbial cultures including Lactobacillus casei, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Rhodopseudomonas palustris individually and in various combinations were tested against V. parahaemolyticus. Disk diffusion tests and challenge tests in liquid media were conducted. Findings revealed inhibition zones with greater diameters in disks treated with whole microbial cultures (min: 7.83 mm, max: 11.33 mm) in comparison to those treated with only supernatants (min: 7.00 mm, max: 8.50 mm). Results from the challenge test showed greater inactivation of the pathogen after 48 h (6.56 ± 0.07 to 5.43 ± 0.03 log10 reduction) when treated with L. casei and L. casei in combination with other two probiotics. In conclusion, the probiotic solutions that included L. casei, the combination of L. casei and R. palustris, and the combination of L. casei, S. cerevisiae and R. palustris have the potential for inhibiting AHPND in shrimp aquaculture.

Keywords: Probiotics; Lactic acid bacteria; Yeast; Photosynthetic bacteria; AHPND; Shrimp aquaculture

Introduction

Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND), also known as early mortality syndrome, is a devastating disease that affects aquaculture shrimp populations in South Asia and the Americas. The disease has had overarching impacts not only on shrimp farms, but also on communities who depend on shrimp farming for their livelihood [1]. The pathogen responsible for acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease is a pathogenic strain of V. parahaemolyticus that produces a binary toxin. To our knowledge, there are no treatments that can adequately control this disease and that have been scientifically proven to cause no adverse side effects on the production system or the environment. Moreover, the use of antibiotics to treat this disease may have detrimental effects on public health since this practice can result in pathogens acquiring antibiotic resistance [2].

The Fisheries and Aquaculture report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization [3], emphasized probiotics as a promising alternative to mitigate the effects of AHPND, along with an adequate water management program, consistent monitoring, and stocking of ponds at lower population densities. The multiple mechanisms of action of probiotics previously studied in humans and commercial animals have led to an increased interest in testing their potential for aquaculture use [4]. Among the mechanisms of actions postulated in aquaculture systems is the competitive exclusion phenomenon by which probiotic microbes colonize the epithelial cells of the host, preventing the adhesion of pathogenic bacteria external to the GI tract [5]. Additionally, probiotic microbes have the potential to secrete inhibitory substances such as enzymes, bacteriocins, hydrogen peroxide, and short chain organic acids such as lactic, acetic, butyric, and propionic acids [6].

While some probiotics have shown beneficial effects in improving the water quality of aquaculture systems by degrading organic matter and converting it into CO2 [7], others have shown increases in survival against pathogenic bacterial infections [8,9]. For instance, tilapia (Oreochronis niloticus ) fed with commercial probiotics consisting of species of the genus Bacillus , Lactobacillus , Clostridium , and Saccharomyces showed a 30% increase in survival after being infected with Edwardsiella tarda [10]. In addition, Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei ) treated with Bacillus subtilis strain L10 and G1 showed up to 13.5% increase in survival after a V. harveyi infection [11]. The available literature regarding the effects of these probiotics against the pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus strain that causes AHPND is limited. Accordingly, the objective of the present study was to determine the inhibitory effects of probiotics in whole cultures as well as their metabolites (in supernatant) against the AHPND pathogenic strain of V. parahaemolyticus in vitro .

Materials and Methods

Probiotics used and cultural conditions

Three probiotic microorganisms were used in this study, a lactic acid bacterium (L) (Lactobacillus casei NBRC 15883), a yeast (Y) (Saccharomyces cerevisiae NBRC 0333), and a photosynthetic bacterium (P) (Rhodopseudomonas palustris NBRC 100419). Certified pure cultures of the three probiotic microorganisms were purchased from Nite Biological Resource Center (NBRC, Chiva, Japan). L. casei was revived by preparing three consecutive overnight cultures on Criterion Lactobacilli deMan, Rogosa and Sharpe (MRS) broth (Hardy Diagnostics, Springboro, OH), and incubating at 37°C for 24 h. Subsequently, the third culture was plated on MRS agar and incubated under the same conditions. Colonies were randomly selected from the plates for identification and further culturing. The permanent stock culture was prepared following the protocol of Li et al. [12] with modifications. The bacterial culture was stored at -80°C (TSX Ultra- Low Freezer, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc, Asheville, NC) in 2 ml tubes containing MRS broth supplemented with 40% (v/v) glycerol. S. cerevisiae was revived by preparing three consecutive overnight cultures on Difco yeast mold (YM) broth (Becton, Dickinson and Company, Sparks, MD) and incubating at 30°C for 24 h, followed by plating on YM broth with 1.5% agar [13]. Colonies were then randomly selected for species confirmation and further culturing. The permanent stock culture was stored at -80°C in 2 ml tubes containing YM broth supplemented with 40% (v/v) glycerol. R. palustris was revived and cultured on Van Neil’s medium (VN broth) supplemented with 0.20% of Bacto peptone (Becton, Dickinson and Company, Sparks, MD) in transparent transport tubes and placed under full spectrum light at an intensity of approximately 4,000 lux for 48 h at room temperature [14]. Subsequently, the culture was plated on VN broth with 1.5% agar and incubated for 48 to 72 h under the same conditions. The permanent stock culture was stored at -80°C in 2 ml tubes containing VN broth supplemented with 40% (v/v) glycerol.

Confirmation of probiotics

Overnight cultures of the probiotic microbes were obtained following the protocol described earlier. DNA was extracted from the overnight cultures for species identification by using the Mo Bio PowerWater® DNA isolation kit (Mo Bio Laboratories, Inc, Carlsbad, CA) following the manufacturer’s protocol for water samples. For bacterial DNA, the 515F and 806R primers were used [15,16], and for fungal DNA, the ITS1 and ITS4 were used [17]. PCR products were sequenced by conventional Sanger sequencing at the University of Arizona Genetics Core where a 3730 Automated DNA Analyzer (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) was used to generate sequences. Identification was based on best matches obtained in the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) [18] with an e-value cutoff of 0.0 and maximum identity of 95% or greater.

Preparation of probiotic solutions for treatment

Probiotic solutions were prepared from overnight cultures of the three microorganisms (i.e. L. casei , S. cerevisiae , and R. palustris ) using methods described previously. However, the nutrient media were enriched with 2% NaCl in the case of L. casei and S. cerevisiae , and 1% NaCl in the case of R. palustris . This was done to account for the salinity of the media used in the challenge test since V. parahaemolyticus is a slightly halophilic bacterium [19]. Seven probiotic solutions made of pure cultures were evaluated in this study, either individually or in combination. Three probiotic solutions consisted of one microbial type each; L. casei (L), S. cerevisiae (Y), and R. palustris (P). The next batch of three probiotic solutions consisted of combinations of two microbial types; L. casei and S. cerevisiae (L+Y), L. casei and R. palustris (L+P), and S. cerevisiae and R. palustris (Y+P). The last probiotic solution consisted of a combination of all three microorganisms: L. casei , S. cerevisiae , and R. palustris (L+Y+P). For those probiotic solutions made of two or more microbial types, overnight cultures of individual microbes were briefly vortexed in an analog vortex mixer (VWR, Troemner, LLC, Thorofare, NJ) and mixed in equal volumes. In addition to the probiotic solutions prepared for this study, a commercial probiotic (CP) treatment (EM®, EMRO Inc., Tucson, AZ) was included and prepared following the manufacturer’s recommendation. EM®, commercially available as EM1® or EM Camarón®, is a proprietary probiotic formulation owned and managed by EM Research Organization in Okinawa, Japan. This microbial consortium contains multiple species of lactic acid bacteria, yeast and photosynthetic bacteria.

Preparation of pathogen culture

Pure culture of V. parahaemolyticus strain 13-028/A3 (VPAHPND), originated in Vietnam [20], was obtained from Dr. Donald Ligthner’s collection at the Aquaculture Pathology Laboratory at the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. The bacterial inoculum was prepared following the method described by Tang et al. [21] with modifications. In brief, a 100-μl aliquot of a pure bacterial culture was poured into a 250 ml flask containing 50 ml of Criterion tryptic soy broth (Hardy Diagnostics, Springboro, OH) with 2% NaCl (TSB+). The flask with a magnetic stir bar was placed on a stir plate in an incubator at 29°C ± 0.5°C with a slight rotation of 120 rpm for 3 h. Consequently, the contents of the flask were poured into a 500 ml flask containing 450 ml of TSB+ and placed into the incubator on a stir plate for 20 h under the same conditions. The final bacterial concentration of the overnight culture (9 log10 CFU ml-1) was confirmed via direct plate count on Criterion™ thiosulfate citrate bile salts sucrose (TCBS) agar (Hardy Diagnostics, Springboro, OH) and by measuring the optical density (600 nm) using a spectrophotometer.

Disk diffusion test

To test the inhibitory effects of probiotics against V. parahaemolyticus on solid media, the disk diffusion test described by Hendrikson [22] was performed with modifications. Agar plates containing 20 ml of Criterion™ tryptic soy agar (TSA) (Hardy Diagnostics, Springboro, OH) with 2% NaCl (TSA+) were prepared beforehand. After probiotic solutions and overnight culture of the pathogen were obtained, a sterile cotton swab was dipped into the pathogen culture. The pathogen was cultured onto the TSA+ plates by streaking these plates thoroughly with the cotton swab over the entire surface, so that a thick mat can be formed. Subsequently, previously sterilized paper disks were soaked in the probiotic solutions, both individual ones and combinations, for 15 min to obtain an inoculum level of approximately 8 log CFU per disk of L. casei and R. palustris , and 7 log CFU per disk in the case of S. cerevisiae . In addition, paper disks were prepared similarly using the commercial probiotic. Then, treated disks were aseptically placed using forceps onto the agar surface of the TSA+ plates inoculated with the pathogen. No more than 4 treated disks were arranged per plate to avoid overlapping of the zones of inhibition. Two different controls were included in this study. The first was a positive control (+Ctrl) in which paper disks were soaked into the overnight culture of the pathogenic strain. The second was a negative control (-Ctrl) in which paper disks were soaked in TSB +. The plates were incubated at 29°C ± 0.5°C for 24 h [21]. The diameters of the zones of inhibition were measured in millimetres. Additionally, the same experimental setting was used with only the supernatant of probiotic solutions, which was obtained by centrifugation of the overnight cultures of the three microbial types at 8000 rpm for 2 min. The disks were soaked in 100 μl of the supernatant solutions for 15 min. All treatments, for both the bacterial cultures and the supernatants, were conducted in duplicates and the experiment was carried out three times on different days.

Inhibition assay in liquid media

After preparation of the probiotic solutions and overnight culture of the pathogen, 50 ml transport tubes were filled with 46 ml of TSB+. Then, 2 ml aliquots of VPAHPND were added into the transport tubes. For each probiotic treatment, 2 ml aliquot of the probiotic solution was dispensed into the same transport tube making up the total volume to 50 ml. The tubes were incubated at 30°C. Two different controls were used in this assay: a positive control (+Ctrl) where the pathogen was not challenged with any probiotic solution and a negative control (- Ctrl) where TSB+ was not inoculated with either probiotics or the pathogen. Simultaneously, acidity of the media was measured, and samples were taken at the beginning of the incubation period and every 6 h thereafter, for up to 48 h. Samples were serially diluted using peptone water with 2% NaCl and plated on selective media. For enumeration of VPAHPND, TCBS with ampicillin was used. Ampicillin was added to TCBS to prevent the growth of probiotic bacteria. For the enumeration of probiotics, the broth media previously described for each probiotic microbe were used to which 1.5% bacteriological grade Criterion agar (Hardy Diagnostics, Springboro, OH) and streptomycin were added. Preliminary studies showed that VPAHPND was highly susceptible to streptomycin, which prevented the growth of the pathogen in the nutrient media used for each probiotic. Plates were incubated under the conditions described earlier. All treatments were conducted in duplicates during each repeat. A total of three repeats of the experiment were conducted on different days for statistical significance.

Statistical analysis

Data processing was performed using R statistical software [23] with the PMCMR [24] and STATS [23] packages. The Shapiro-Wilk normality test was used to determine the normality of the data [25]. For data following normal distribution, the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at a 1% significance level was performed followed by posthoc analysis Tukey’s Honest Significance Test. If data were not normally distributed, the nonparametric analysis of variance Kruskal- Wallis test was utilized with pairwise comparisons using Tukey’s and Kramer’s Nemenyi test with Tukey-Distribution approximation for independent samples [16,26].

Results

Disk diffusion tests

The disk diffusion test on solid media (Figure 1) showed greater diameters of inhibition zones for the treatments in which disks were treated with microbial cultures when compared to those of their respective supernatants. The treatments that included L. casei (L=11.33 ± 0.76 mm, L+Y=10.33 ± 0.31 mm, L+PB=11.00 ± 1.32 mm, and L+Y +PB=10.50 ± 0.50 mm) as well as the commercial probiotic treatment (11.17±1.36 mm), demonstrated larger zones of inhibition than those that did not include L. casei in the formulation (Y=8.17 ± 0.29 mm and PB=7.83 ± 0.29 mm). Although the combination of S. cerevisiae and R. palustris (9.33±1.04 mm) showed no significant difference (P>0.05) when compared to the treatments including L. casei , the average diameters of the zones of inhibition caused by this combination treatment were lower. Furthermore, the results from the disk diffusion test using only supernatants showed that there was no significant difference among treatments including L. casei in their formulation (7.95 ± 0.44 mm), in comparison to those treatments without this lactic acid bacterium: the combination of S. cerevisiae and R. palustris (7.00 ± 0.20 mm), and the treatments with S. cerevisiae (7.00 ± 0.20 mm) and R. palustris (7.00 ± 0.30 mm) used individually.

probiotics-health-microbial

Figure 1: Diameters of inhibition zones (mm) of probiotic treatments using the complete microbial culture (a) and their respective supernatants (b). Data represent mean ± SD. Treatments: (L) L. casei , (Y) S. cerevisiae , (P) R. palustris , (L+Y) L. casei +S. cerevisiae , (L+P) L. casei +R. palustris , (Y+P) S. cerevisiae + R. palustris , (L+Y+P) L. casei + S. cerevisiae + R. palustris , (CP) Commercial Probiotic EM1®, (+Ctrl) positive control, and (–Ctrl) negative control. Bars with similar letters represent no significant difference between those treatments (P>0.05).

Inhibition assay in liquid media

The surviving population of VPAHPND after challenging it with various probiotic solutions over a 48-h period is depicted in Figure 2. The results indicated that after 12 h, some probiotics treatments (L, L +Y, L+P, L+Y+P) showed a bactericidal effect, as evidenced by an average difference of 0.97 log10 CFU ml-1 in comparison to the population of the positive control, while others (Y, P, and Y+P) did not show any effect. The treatment with the commercial probiotic caused a decrease of 2.37 log10 CFU ml-1 after 12 h. From 24 to 36 h, all treatments showed different degrees of pathogen inactivation. The four treatments showing the greatest difference in comparison to the positive control (8.09 ± 0.09 log10 CFU ml-1) after 24 h were the commercial probiotic (3.30 ± 0.10 log10 CFU ml-1), the combination of L. casei and R. palustris (5.22 ± 0.20 log10 CFU ml-1), the combination of L. casei , S. cerevisiae and R. palustris (5.48 ± 0.12 log10 CFU ml-1), and L. casei (6.00 ± 0.22 log10 CFU ml-1) alone. After 36 h, the commercial probiotic (1.87 ± 0.04 log10 CFU ml-1), the combination of L. casei , S. cerevisiae and R. palustris (2.03 ± 0.06 log10 CFU ml-1), the combination of L. casei and R. palustris (2.18 ± 0.06 log10 CFU ml-1), and the combination of L. casei and S. cerevisiae (3.35 ± 0.17 log10 CFU ml-1) showed the greatest bactericidal effect against V. parahaemolyticus . After 48 h, four treatments including L. casei , the combination of L. casei and S. cerevisiae , the combination of L. casei , S. cerevisiae and R. palustris , and the commercial probiotic treatments showed no VPAHPND survivors.

probiotics-health-microbial

Figure 2: Bacterial population (log10 CFU ml-1) of VPAHPND at different time intervals after being challenged with probiotic solutions. Data represent mean ± SE. Treatments: (x) negative control, (+) positive control, (▲) L. casei , (○) S. cerevisiae , (◇) R. palustris , (■) L. casei +S. cerevisiae , (Δ) L. casei +R. palustris , (□) S. cerevisiae +R. palustris , (●) L. casei +S. cerevisiae +R. palustris , (◆) Commercial Probiotic EM•1®.

Furthermore, statistical analysis of variance revealed that the commercial probiotic treatment, the combination of L. casei and R. palustris , the combination of L. casei and S. cerevisiae , the treatment with L. casei alone, and the treatment including all three microbes were significantly different (P<0.05) in comparison to the positive control.

Changes in acidity levels in the liquid media as a result of microbial growth were observed (Table 1). Statistical analyses revealed no significant difference in media pH values between probiotic treatments and the positive control (P<0.05). Initial pH values started at an average of 6.22 and decreased over 48 h in comparison to the negative control. The treatment including the combination of L. casei , S. cerevisiae and R. palustris reached the highest acidity with a pH of 4.83 followed by the treatment with the combination of L. casei and S. cerevisiae , and the combination of L. casei and R. palustris , with a pH of 4.88 in both cases. In the case of the commercial probiotic, the average pH value (5.58) was slightly higher than the pH value obtained in the positive control (5.4).

Treatments Time Intervals
0 h (mean ± S.D.) 12 h (mean ± S.D.) 24 h (mean ± S.D.) 36 h (mean ± S.D.) 48 h (mean ± S.D.)
L 6.22 ± 0.01 5.64 ± 0.03 5.2 ± 0.03 4.96 ± 0.04 4.9 ± 0.02
Y 6.24 ± 0.01 5.87 ± 0.01 5.51 ± 0.02 5.36 ± 0.03 5.04 ± 0.03
P 6.22 ± 0.00 5.75 ± 0.03 5.46 ± 0.01 5.19 ± 0.06 5.13 ± 0.01
L+Y 6.24 ± 0.00 5.67 ± 0.02 5.17 ± 0.02 4.91 ± 0.08 4.88 ± 0.03
L+P 6.24 ± 0.01 5.64 ± 0.03 5.15 ± 0.02 5.01 ± 0.02 4.88 ± 0.02
Y+P 6.23 ± 0.01 5.67 ± 0.02 5.2 ± 0.02 5.03 ± 0.02 5.09 ± 0.03
L+Y+P 6.23 ± 0.01 5.66 ± 0.01 5.08 ± 0.01 4.95 ± 0.02 4.83 ± 0.01
CP 6.2 ± 0.00 6.19 ± 0.11 5.86 ± 0.05 5.82 ± 0.02 5.58 ± 0.05
+Ctrl 6.14 ± 0.03 5.73 ± 0.03 5.59 ± 0.03 5.47 ± 0.05 5.4 ± 0.03
- Ctrl 7.05 ± 0.03 7.05 ± 0.01 7.12 ± 0.03 7.11 ± 0.03 7.14 ± 0.03

Table 1: pH of the liquid media at different time intervals during challenge of VPAHPND with various probiotic solutions. (L) L. casei, (Y) S. cerevisiae, (P) R. palustris, (L+Y) L. casei + S. cerevisiae, (L+P) L. casei + R. palustris, (L+Y+P) L. casei + S. cerevisiae + R. palustris, (CP) Commercial Probiotic EM1®, (+Ctrl) positive control, and (–Ctrl) negative control.

Changes in the populations of the probiotic microbes over the 48 h challenge test were observed (Figure 3). The population of L. casei increased by 1.23 log10 CFU ml-1 from 0 to 12 h; however, there were no appreciable changes from 12 to 36 h. From 36 to 48 h, the population of L. casei had a slight decrease of 0.36 log10 CFU ml-1. S. cerevisiae showed no significant changes in population from 0 to 36 h. However, there was a slight decrease at 48 h. The average population of R. palustris declined after 24 h, but no significant changes were evident thereafter.

probiotics-health-microorganisms

Figure 3: Population of probiotic microorganisms at different time intervals in TSB+ inoculated with VPAHPND. Data represent mean ± SD. Probiotic microbes: (image)L . casei , (image )S . cerevisiae , (⌉ )R . palustr.is

Discussion

In aquaculture, probiotics have been applied to improve water quality and to control bacteria associated with emerging diseases. Some types of probiotics found to be effective in inhibiting the growth of certain bacteria include the commercial product INVE Sanolife® (INVE, Belgium) containing Gram-positive Bacillus sp. [27] as well as Procreatin 7 (Safmex, Mexico) containing the yeasts S. cerevisiae [28] and Debaryomyces hansenii [29]. Probiotics were initially used in land dwelling vertebrates such as in calves to reduce the incidences and duration of diarrhea [30], in chickens to increase resistance to coccidiosis [31], and in sows to improve fertility [32]. In many cases, probiotics were found to improve animal health through many different mechanisms of action, such as competitive exclusion, secretion of antimicrobial substances, disruption of quorum sensing, and immune-modulatory effects on the host [33]. Beyond their effective application in vertebrates, probiotics have also been successfully evaluated in invertebrates. A study found that probiotic solutions containing Streptomyces in combination with bacteria of the genus Bacillus improved growth parameters and immune response in Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei ) [34]. Similar findings were demonstrated in freshwater prawns (Macrobrachium rosenbergii ) when their diet was supplemented with Bacillus licheniformis [35]. Although the efficacy of commercial probiotics to inhibit the growth of deleterious bacteria has been evaluated in shrimp L. vannamei [27], their effects on the causative agent of AHPND, V. parahaemolyticus strain 13-028/A3, are currently unknown.

In this study, the disk diffusion test was conducted to evaluate if the probiotic microbes were effective against VPAHPND. This test showed that the top five treatments with the greatest diameters of inhibition zones were the commercial probiotic, lactic acid bacteria, lactic acid bacteria combined with photosynthetic bacteria, and lactic acid bacteria combined with both yeast and photosynthetic bacteria. These treatments, including the commercial probiotic, have lactic acid bacteria of the genus Lactobacillus in their formulation. These results are less likely to be attributed to the efficacy of probiotics to compete for nutrients, since the solid media used is rich in nutrients. Inhibitory effects could more likely be attributed to the production of inhibitory substances [5] such as short-chain fatty acids [36] found in the overnight cultures used for the preparation of the probiotic solutions. However, short-chain fatty acids alone are not enough to cause inhibition of the pathogen as evidenced in Figure 1, where disks prepared with only supernatants achieved lower diameters of zones of inhibition in comparison to the disks prepared with whole bacterial cultures. These results may be due to further metabolic processes performed by probiotic microbes that caused the production of additional inhibitory substances. For instance, lactic acid bacteria are known for their ability to produce antibacterial peptides that interfere with essential bacterial enzymes or disrupt the permeability of the bacterial cell membrane of pathogenic bacteria [37].

The inhibition assay in liquid media showed that the treatments using lactic acid bacteria combined with yeast, lactic acid bacteria combined with photosynthetic bacteria, and lactic acid bacteria combined with yeast and photosynthetic bacteria caused inactivation of VPAHPND after 12 h and reduced the populations of the pathogen from 1.13 log10 CFU ml-1 to no detection of survivors after 48 h. The commercial probiotic treatment not only had no survivors of VPAHPND detected at 48 h, but also demonstrated bactericidal effects as early as 12 h after infection. Since this test was also conducted using a nutrient rich media, it is unlikely that competition for nutrients and space may be the cause of inhibition. Furthermore, lactic acid bacteria have the ability to modify their external environment by producing organic acids such as lactic, acetic, butyric, and propionic acids [38,39]. These organic acids can reduce the pH of the environment and adversely affect the normal growth and/or survival of bacteria susceptible to acidic conditions [40]. However, the results obtained in terms of the variation in media pH levels over 48 h (Table 1) suggest that acidity may not have played a major role in pathogen inactivation. Instead, it is postulated that probiotic species have the ability to produce more complex inhibitory substances such as enzymes or bacteriocins that can cause inactivation of certain pathogens [41].

Ultimately, the findings from the disk diffusion tests in solid media along with the findings from the challenge tests in liquid media indicate that probiotics, alone and in combination, are potentially viable options for inactivating or inhibiting the growth of VPAHPND. Although there is limited literature discussing the effectiveness of all the probiotic microbes used in this study and other probiotics against VPAHPND, Lactobacillus [42,43] and Bifidobacterium [39,44] have been shown to be the most effective probiotic bacteria for increasing disease resistance and inhibiting the effects of some pathogens that negatively impact aquaculture species. Moreover, since probiotics have the capability of consuming the nutrients that are required for pathogens to grow within living organisms [39], the present study could potentially be extended to inhibit the growth of V. parahaemolyticus in live shrimp. Additionally, Gram et al. [45] suggested that the mechanisms of action of probiotics should be further evaluated with live models, since inhibitory effects in vitro may not directly translate in targeted environments such as the gastrointestinal tract of shrimp and the water of aquaculture ponds. Probiotics have been shown to improve the innate immunity of different land and aquatic vertebrates and enhance the resistance of shrimp against common diseases, such as vibriosis, white spot syndrome and Aeromonas hydrophila infection [38]. The present study suggests that the combination of certain probiotics may be an effective step towards minimizing the detrimental impact of acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease in shrimp aquaculture.

Conflict of Interests

An author on this manuscript is an employee of EM Research Organization, Inc. whose commercial probiotic was part of the treatments used in this study.

References

  1. Soto Rodriguez SA, Gomez Gil B, Lozano Olvera R, Betancourt Lozano M, Morales Covarrubias MS (2015) Field and experimental evidence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus as the causative agent of acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease of cultured shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) in northwestern Mexico. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 81: 1689-1699.
  2. Verschuere L, Rombaut G, Sorgeloos P, Verstraete W (2000) Probiotic bacteria as biological control agents in aquaculture. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews 64: 655-671.
  3. FAO (2013) Report of the FAO/MARD technical workshop on Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS) or Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Syndrome (AHPNS) of cultured shrimp (under TCP/VIE/3304).
  4. Ninawe S, Selvin J (2009) Probiotics in shrimp aquaculture: avenues and challenges. Critical reviews in microbiology 35: 43-66.
  5. Zorriehzahra M, Banaederakhshan R (2015) Early mortality syndrome as new emerging threat in shrimp industry. Advances in Animal and Veterinary Sciences 3: 64.
  6. Tinh NTN, Dierckens K, Sorgeloos P, Bossier P (2007) A review of the functionality of probiotics in the larviculture food chain. Marine Biotechnology 10: 1-12.
  7. Balcazar JL, De Blas I, Ruiz Zarzuela I, Cunningham D, Vendrell D, et al. (2006) The role of probiotics in aquaculture. Veterinary Microbiology 114: 173-186.
  8. Emmerik M, Serpin D, Vera T, Valdez M, Cayra E (2010) Domestication Of Gut Microbiota Can Improve Shrimp Aquaculture. Global Aquaculture Advocate, pp: 58-60.
  9. Martínez P, Ibáñez A, Monroy O, Ramírez H (2012) Use of probiotics in aquaculture. ISRN microbiology 2012: 13.
  10. Taoka Y, Maeda H, Jo J, Kim S, Park S, et al. (2006) Use of live and dead probiotic cells in tilapia Oreochromis niloticus. Fisheries Science 72: 755-766.
  11. Zokaeifar H, Balcazar JL, Saad CR, Kamarudin MS, Sijam K, et al. (2012) Effects of Bacillus subtilis on the growth performance, digestive enzymes, immune gene expression and disease resistance of white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei. Fish and Shellfish Immunology 33: 683-689.
  12. Li H, Zhang S, Lu J, Liu L, Uluko H, Pang X, et al. Antifungal activities and effect of Lactobacillus casei AST18 on the mycelia morphology and ultrastructure of Penicillium chrysogenum. Food Control. 2014 ;43:57-64.
  13. Cleland D, Jastrzembski K, Stamenova E, Benson J, Catranis C, et al. (2007) Growth characteristics of microorganisms on commercially available animal free alternatives to tryptic soy medium. Journal of Microbiological Methods 69: 345-352.
  14. Zagrodnik R, Thiel M, Seifert K, Wlodarczak M, Laniecki M (2013) Application of immobilized Rhodobacter sphaeroides bacteria in hydrogen generation process under semi-continuous conditions. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 38: 7632-7639.
  15. Flores GE, Caporaso JG, Henley JB, Rideout JR, Domogala D, et al (2014) Temporal variability is a personalized feature of the human microbiome. Genome Biology 15: 531.
  16. Bates ST, Caporaso JG, Berg Lyons D, Walters WA, Knight R, et al. (2010) Examining the global distribution of dominant archaeal populations in soil. The ISME Journal 5: 908-917.
  17. Valente P, Gouveia FC, De Lemos GA, Pimentel D, Van Elsas JD, et al. (1996) PCR amplification of the rDNA internal transcribed spacer region for differentiation of Saccharomyces cultures. FEMS Microbiology Letters 137: 253-256.
  18. Altschul SF, Gish W, Miller W, Myers EW, Lipman DJ (1990) Basic local alignment search tool. Journal of Molecular Biology 215: 403-410.
  19. Lee CT, Chen IT, Yang YT, Ko TP, Huang YT, et al. (2015) The opportunistic marine pathogen Vibrio parahaemolyticus becomes virulent by acquiring a plasmid that expresses a deadly toxin. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112: E5445-E5445.
  20. Han JE, Tang K, Tran LH, Lightner D V (2015) Photorhabdus insect-related (Pir) toxin-like genes in a plasmid of Vibrio parahaemolyticus, the causative agent of acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) of shrimp. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 113: 33-40.
  21. Tang K, Pantoja C, Redman R, Han JE, Tran L, et al. (2015) Development of in situ hybridization and PCR assays for the detection of Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei (EHP), a microsporidian parasite infecting penaeid shrimp. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 130: 37-41.
  22. Hendrikson RS (2002) Susceptibility testing of Salmonella using disk diffusion. 3rd edition. Global Salm Surv.
  23. R Core Team (2016) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Vienna, Austria.
  24. Pohlert T (2014) The pairwise multiple comparison of mean ranks package (PMCMR). R package.
  25. Li Z, Zhang Z, Xu C, Zhao J, Liu H, et al. (2014) Bacteria and methanogens differ along the gastrointestinal tract of Chinese roe deer (Capreolus pygargus). PLoS ONE 9: 1-20.
  26. Thompson J, Gregory S, Plummer S, Shields RJ, Rowley AF (2010) An in vitro and in vivo assessment of the potential of Vibrio spp. as probiotics for the Pacific White shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei. Journal of Applied Microbiology 109: 1177-1187.
  27. Silva EF, Soares MA, Calazans NF, Vogeley JL, Do Valle BC, et al. (2013) Effect of probiotic (Bacillus spp.) addition during larvae and postlarvae culture of the white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei. Aquaculture Research 44: 13-21.
  28. Scholz U, Garcia Diaz G, Ricque D, Cruz Suarez LE, Vargas Albores F, et al. (1999) Enhancement of vibriosis resistance in juvenile Penaeus vannamei by supplementation of diets with different yeast products. Aquaculture 176: 271-283.
  29. Tovar D, Zambonino J, Cahu C, Gatesoupe FJ, Vazquez Juarez R, et al. (2002) Effect of live yeast incorporation in compound diet on digestive enzyme activity in sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) larvae. Aquaculture 204: 113-123.
  30. Timmerman HM, Mulder L, Everts H, Van Espen DC, Van der Wal E, et al. (2005) Health and growth of veal calves fed milk replacers with or without probiotics. Journal of Dairy Science 88: 2154-2165.
  31. Lee SH, Lillehoj HS, Dalloul RA, Park DW, Hong YH, et al. (2007) Influence of Pediococcus-based probiotic on coccidiosis in broiler chickens. Poultry Science 86: 63-66.
  32. Alexopoulos C, Georgoulakis IE, Tzivara A, Kyriakis CS, Govaris A, et al. (2004) Field evaluation of the effect of a probiotic-containing Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus subtilis spores on the health status, performance, and carcass quality of grower and finisher pigs. Journal of Veterinary Medicine Series A: Physiology Pathology Clinical Medicine 51: 306-312.
  33. Musa HH, Wu SL, Zhu CH, Seri H, Zhu G (2009) The potential benefits of probiotics in animal production and health. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances 8: 313-321.
  34. Bernal MG, Marrero RM, Campa Córdova ÁI, Mazón Suástegui JM (2016) Probiotic effect of Streptomyces strains alone or in combination with Bacillus and Lactobacillus in juveniles of the white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei. Aquaculture International 25: 927-939.
  35. Kumar RN, Raman RP, Jadhao SB, Brahmchari RK, Kumar K, et al. (2013) Effect of dietary supplementation of Bacillus licheniformis on gut microbiota, growth and immune response in giant freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii (de Man, 1879). Aquaculture International 21: 387-403.
  36. Saarela M, Mogensen G, Fondén R, Mättö J, Mattila Sandholm T (2000) Probiotic bacteria: Safety, functional and technological properties. Journal of Biotechnology 84: 197-215.
  37. Bierbaum G, Sahl HG (2009) Lantibiotics: mode of action, biosynthesis and bioengineering. Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology 10: 2-18.
  38. Zorriehzahra MJ, Delshad ST, Adel M, Tiwari R, Karthik K, et al. (2016) Probiotics as beneficial microbes in aquaculture: an update on their multiple modes of action: a review. Veterinary Quarterly 36: 228-241.
  39. Servin AL (2004) Antagonistic activities of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria against microbial pathogens. FEMS Microbiology Reviews 28: 405-440.
  40. Makras L, Triantafyllou V, Fayol Messaoudi D, Adriany T, Zoumpopoulou G, et al. (2006) Kinetic analysis of the antibacterial activity of probiotic lactobacilli towards Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium reveals a role for lactic acid and other inhibitory compounds. Research in Microbiology 157: 241-247.
  41. Wohlgemuth S, Loh G, Blaut M (2010) Recent developments and perspectives in the investigation of probiotic effects. International Journal of Medical Microbiology 300: 3-10.
  42. Kongnum K, Hongpattarakere T (2012) Effect of Lactobacillus plantarum isolated from digestive tract of wild shrimp on growth and survival of white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) challenged with Vibrio harveyi. Fish and Shellfish Immunology 32: 170-177.
  43. Pirarat N, Kobayashi T, Katagiri T, Maita M, Endo M (2006) Protective effects and mechanisms of a probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus rhamnosus against experimental Edwardsiella tarda infection in tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology 113: 339-347.
  44. Itami T, Asano M, Tokushige K, Kubono K, Nakagawa A, et al. (1998) Enhancement of disease resistance of kuruma shrimp, Penaeus japonicus, after oral administration of peptidoglycan derived from Bifidobacterium thermophilum. Aquaculture 164: 277-288.
  45. Gram L, Lovold T, Nielsen J, Melchiorsen J, Spanggaard B (2001) In vitro antagonism of the probiont Pseudomonas fluorescens strain AH2 against Aeromonas salmonicida does not confer protection of salmon against furunculosis. Aquaculture 199: 1-11.
Citation: Pinoargote G, Ravishankar S (2018) Evaluation of the Efficacy of Probiotics in vitro Against Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Causative Agent of Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease in Shrimp. J Prob Health 6: 193.

Copyright: © 2018 Pinoargote G and Ravishankar S. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Top