Protective effects of chlorogenic acid on growth, intestinal inflammation, hepatic antioxidant capacity, muscle development and skin color in channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus fed an oxidized fish oil diet

Under oxidative stress condition, the protective effects of dietary chlorogenic acid (CGA) supplementation on liver antioxidant capacity, intestinal inflammation and barrier function, muscle development and skin coloration in channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus were explored in the current study. With that purpose, I. punctatus were fed five experimental diets containing 2% fresh fish oil (FFO, 9.2 meqO2/kg) or 2% oxidized fish oil (OFO, 897.4 meqO2/kg) without or with CGA supplementation (0.02%, 0.04% and 0.08%) for 8 weeks. Upon comparative analysis, the oxidized fish oil consumption significantly lowered weight gain rate, decreased intestinal villi length and muscular thickness values and the tight junction proteins mRNA abundance, augmented the intestinal proinflammatory factors, attenuated hepatic antioxidant enzymes activities and related genes mRNA expression levels, influenced the myogenic regulatory factors expression profile and impacted the myocyte density, myocyte area values as well as the skin pigments contents compared to the FFO treatment. Collectively, long-term feeding of the oxidized fish oil diet suppressed the growth performance, destroyed intestinal structural integrity, caused intestinal inflammation and hepatic oxidative stress, impacted the skeletal development and skin color of I. punctatus. Whereas CGA supplementation in oxidized fish oil diets partially counteracted the negative effects of the oxidized fish oil on I. punctatus in terms of increasing the growth performance, improving the intestinal mucosal structure, alleviating hepatic oxidative stress and intestinal inflammation, recompiling the myogenic regulatory factors expression and improving skin color. In conclusion, CGA has great potential to be an aquatic feed additive.

Automated summary

In this study, the protective effects of chlorogenic acid (CGA) supplementation on oxidative stress-induced damage in channel catfish were investigated. It was found that consumption of oxidized fish oil led to decreased growth performance, disrupted intestinal structure, hepatic oxidative stress, and inflammation, as well as impaired muscle development and skin coloration in the catfish. However, supplementation of CGA in the diet partially counteracted these negative effects, improving growth performance, intestinal structure, hepatic antioxidant capacity, and skin coloration. Overall, CGA shows great potential as an aquatic feed additive for channel catfish.