Beneficial effects of vitamin E supplementation against the oxidative stress on Cylindrospermopsin-exposed tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

Cylindrospermopsin (CYN) is known to produce changes in some oxidative stress biomarkers in fish acutely and subchronically exposed to the toxin. The present study investigated the effects of vitamin E supplementation against the oxidative stress induced by pure CYN in tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Fish were pretreated with 700 mg vitamin E/kg fish body weight (bw)/day for 7 days by oral route, and on day seven, they received a single oral dose of 400 μg pure CYN/kg fish bw, and were killed after 24 h. The biomarkers evaluated included lipid peroxidation (LPO), protein and DNA oxidation, glutathione-S-transferase (GST), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and γ-glutamyl-cysteine synthetase (γ-GCS) activities, and ratio of reduced glutathione-oxidized glutathione (GSH/GSSG). This is the first study showing that vitamin E supplementation is effective at reducing the toxicity induced by CYN, recovering the biomarkers assayed to basal levels. Therefore, vitamin E can be considered a useful chemoprotectant that reduces hepatic and renal oxidative stress and can be used in the prophylaxis and treatment of CYN-related intoxication in fish.