Low lethal doses of Streptococcus iniae caused enteritis in Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baerii)

In aquaculture, the incidence of enteritis due to Streptococcus iniae infection in Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baerii) has increased in recent years. The pathogenesis of S. iniae is largely unknown due to the paucity of experimental studies on fish intestinal inflammation. In this study, S. iniae infection of A. baerii juveniles was induced by anal intubation of 0.15 mL at a low lethal dose (2 × 10⁷ CFU/mL). Intestinal pathology and gene expression studies were conducted within 10 days of the experiment. Histopathological examination showed severe intestinal lesions, inflammatory cell infiltration, intestinal submucosa edema, epithelial cell shedding and necrosis. Predominant symptoms of exudative inflammation, metamorphic inflammation and proliferative inflammation on days 1-3, 4-6, and 7-10 post infection were shown, respectively. Ultrastructural observations also revealed fractured microvilli and shedding on days 4-6. Intestinal villi gradually repaired during the subsequent 7-10 days post infection. Expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines, tumor necrosis factor and interleukin 1β were up-regulated on days 1-3 followed by a significant decrease on day 5, ultimately reaching control levels on day 10 post infection. A similar pattern was shown in mucus cells, involving mucin secretion and expression of the mucin encoding gene, Mucin-2. These results showed the cellular response to S. iniae infection associated with inflammatory genes expression in the Siberian sturgeon.