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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2001, p. 2304-2309, Vol. 67, No. 5
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.5.2304-2309.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Stress and Stress-Induced Neuroendocrine Changes Increase the Susceptibility of Juvenile Oysters (Crassostrea gigas) to Vibrio splendidus

Arnaud Lacoste, Fabienne Jalabert, Shelagh K. Malham, Anne Cueff, and Serge A. Poulet^*

Station Biologique de Roscoff, CNRS, Université Paris VI, 29682 Roscoff, France

Received 6 November 2000/Accepted 20 February 2001

Oysters are permanently exposed to various microbes, and their defense system is continuously solicited to prevent accumulation of invading and pathogenic organisms. Therefore, impairment of the animal's defense system usually results in mass mortalities in cultured oyster stocks or increased bacterial loads in food products intended for human consumption. In the present study, experiments were conducted to examine the effects of stress on the juvenile oyster's resistance to the oyster pathogen Vibrio splendidus. Oysters (Crassostrea gigas) were challenged with a low dose of a pathogenic V. splendidus strain and subjected to a mechanical stress 3 days later. Both mortality and V. splendidus loads increased in stressed oysters, whereas they remained low in unstressed animals. Injection of noradrenaline or adrenocorticotropic hormone, two key components of the oyster neuroendocrine stress response system, also caused higher mortality and increased accumulation of V. splendidus in challenged oysters. These results suggest that the physiological changes imposed by stress, or stress hormones, influenced host-pathogen interactions in oysters and increased juvenile C. gigas vulnerability to Vibrio splendidus.

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^* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Station Biologique de Roscoff, CNRS, Université Paris VI, Place Georges Teissier, 29682 Roscoff, France. Phone: 33 (0)2 98 29 23 23. Fax: 33 (0)2 98 29 23 24. E-mail: poulet{at}sb-roscoff.fr.

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2001, p. 2304-2309, Vol. 67, No. 5
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.5.2304-2309.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

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