Biochemical, physiological, and immunological changes during starvation in juveniles of Litopenaeus vannamei

In an attempt to know how the protein level modulates catabolism and its effects on the immune response, we studied juvenile L. vannamei that had been starved for varying period after being conditioned on diet containing either maintenance or optimal dietary protein levels (DPL). The effect of dietary protein level on nutritional reserves management of shrimp and its relation with immune condition was also addressed. Juvenile shrimp were fed for 21 days on diets containing 5% and 40% dietary protein. Hemolymph metabolites (glucose, cholesterol, protein, acylglycerols, and lactate), hemocyanin, osmoregulatory capacity, digestive gland glycogen and lipids, and immune conditions (hemocytes characterization, phenoloxidase activity, respiratory burst: basal and activated) were evaluated and considered as initial condition. After that time, shrimp were starved for 21 days. During starvation time every 7 days nutritional, physiological and immunological condition were evaluated. A reduction in all physiological and immunological indicators was observed with starvation. The protein level of the conditioning diet had a significant effect on this response; generally, the effect was smaller with shrimp previously fed 40% dietary protein. In this sense the present results demonstrate that shrimp are well adapted to tolerate food deprivation for some time but that this tolerance is closely related to its previous nutritional condition. In the case of shrimp fed 40% DPL, wet weight, nutritional and immune condition was significantly affected after 14 days of starvation. In shrimp previously fed 5% DP, tolerance to starving condition was limited to only a few days (7 days) as a result of low reserves of circulatory and mussel proteins. All these results demonstrate that dietary protein levels can governor the immune condition of shrimp through the management reserves metabolism, indicating that a shrimp with a good nutritional condition can tolerate until 14 days without modifying the evaluated immune responses. In this sense it can be concluded that protein metabolism have a central role for shrimp.