Vztah imunokompetence jelce tlouště (Leuciscus cephalus) a parazitace mnohobuněčnými cizopasníky
| Title in English | The associations between immunocompetence of chub (Leuciscus cephalus L.) and parasitism: the seasonal changes and the effect of reproductive investment |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2007 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | The role of immune function is recently widely investigated in the context of trade-off between the different life-history traits. Each potential host is exposed to variety of parasites that may negatively influence its viability, and then the host must develop a performing immune system in order to generate the resistance towards the parasites and to reduce the fitness losses caused by parasitism. Therefore, we hypothesized and tested the potential associations between fish immunocompetence and infection by metazoan parasites. The aim of the first investigation performed in 2004 was to test the seasonal changes in the selected parameters of immunocompetence and the parasite presence and abundance. The aim of the second investigation performed in 2005 was to compare the potential changes of immunocompetence and parasite infection among three periods differing in reproductive investment, i.e. prereproductive period before breeding in early May, reproductive (breeding period) in late May and postreproductive after breeding period in late June). The investigated chub were collected from one locality of Svitava River (South Moravia). The selected physiological and immunological parameters were measured and the fish were investigated for the presence of metazoan parasites (Monogenea, Mollusca, Hirudinea, Digenea, Cestoda, Acanthocephala, Nematoda). Monogenea were the group with the highest prevalence and mean abundance in all samples. Digenea were the second abundant group in all samples. By studying differential leukocyte counts, only small variances in the composition of white blood cell components were revealed. The number of lymphocytes reached similar proportions in all seasons investigated. However, the more obvious seasonal differences were observed in proportion to the developmental stages of neutrophilic granulocytes. We found the significant differences in majority of physiological (hematocrit, erythrocyte count, condition factor, gonado-somatic index) and immune parameters (spleen-somatic index, leukocyte count, differential leukocyte cell counts, respiratory burst activity) when comparing the seasonal samples and also in to the analyses of the periods of different investment in reproduction. |
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