The treatment with the probiotic Shewanella putrefaciens Pdp11 of specimens of Solea senegalensis exposed to high stocking densities to enhance their resistance to disease

•Shewanella putrefaciens Pdp11 enhances tolerance to crowding stress in Solea senegalensis.•Dietary administration of S. putrefaciens Pdp11 modulates immune gene transcription.•Some intestinal changes are related to microbiota modulation by S. putrefaciens Pdp11.

Aquaculture industry exposes fish to acute stress events, such as high stocking density, and a link between stress and higher susceptibility to diseases has been concluded. Several studies have demonstrated increased stress tolerance of fish treated with probiotics, but the mechanisms involved have not been elucidated. Shewanella putrefaciens Pdp11 is a strain isolated from healthy gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.) and it is considered as probiotics. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the dietary administration of this probiotics on the stress tolerance of Solea senegalensis specimens farmed under high stocking density (PHD) compared to a group fed a commercial diet and farmed under the same conditions (CHD). In addition, during the experiment, a natural infectious outbreak due to Vibrio species affected fish farmed under crowding conditions. Changes in the microbiota and histology of intestine and in the transcription of immune response genes were evaluated at 19 and 30 days of the experiment. Mortality was observed after 9 days of the beginning of the experiment in CHD and PHD groups, it being higher in the CHD group. Fish farmed under crowding stress showed reduced expression of genes at 19 day probiotic feeding. On the contrary, a significant increase in immune related gene expression was detected in CHD fish at 30 day, whereas the gene expression in fish from PHD group was very similar to that showed in specimens fed and farmed with the conventional conditions. In addition, the dietary administration of S. putrefaciens Pdp11 produced an important modulation of the intestinal microbiota, which was significantly correlated with the high number of goblet cells detected in fish fed the probiotic diet.