Effects of a sodium butyrate supplemented diet on the expression of genes related to epigenetic regulatory mechanisms and immune response in the European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) Butyrate is a short chain fatty acid extensively used in animal nutrition since it promotes increases in body weight and other multiple beneficial effects on the intestinal tract, including anti-inflammatory effects. Butyrate supplementation is then an option to consider when feeding carnivorous fish with diets where fish oils have been partially substituted by vegetable oils. However, butyrate effects in fish have been poorly studied and little is known about the metabolic processes underlying these effects. In the present study, we have evaluated the effects of a butyrate-supplemented diet through the expression of several inflammation-related genes in the intestine and liver of European sea bass juveniles. Moreover, since butyrate acts as a histone deacetylase inhibitor, some genes related to epigenetic regulatory mechanisms were also analyzed. As expected, sea bass fed with the butyrate supplemented diet showed a significant increase in weight. Furthermore, dicer1 high expression in the intestine was linked to a decrease in the irf1 levels, suggesting that dicer1 may be somehow inhibiting an interferon response against external influences, in this case dietary ones. In addition, high expression levels of the euchromatic histone-lysine-N-methyltransferase 2 (ehmt2) were related to il6 low levels in both examined tissues. Since ehmt2 is known to methylate histone residues, here it may be repressing il6 promoter and therefore reducing il6 expression. In addition, hdac11 levels (known to downregulate il10 expression in antigen-presenting cells) in the intestine were low, accompanied by a high expression of il10, suggesting the inactivation of the T-cell response. Together, these results are in agreement with the expected anti-inflammatory effects of butyrate and provide support for the expected persistent phenotypic effects of appropriate nutritional programming of carnivorous fish with the goal of contributing to a more sustainable fish farming

EPICONCEPT Workshop 2014, Epigenomic Toolbox: from Methods to Models, 07-09 May 2014, Las Palmas, Spain.-- 1 page

Peer Reviewed