Respiratory metabolism and immune response of CO₂-anesthetized white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei during waterless transportation

In order to study the changes of respiratory metabolism and immune response during live waterless transportation of white prawn,Litopenaeus vannamei were anesthetized with CO₂.These parameters under three different states(untreated,during waterless transportation and recovery)were assessed:glucose(Glu),Lactic acid(LD),three key glycolytic enzymes in the gill,the key enzymes of aerobic and anaerobic metabolism,some enzymes related to immune response and total haemocyte counts(THC). The results showed that during waterless transportation the concentration of Glu was lower than the control while the concentration of LD was in contrary. The activities of hexokinase(HK),phosphofructokinase(PFK)and pyruvate kinase(PK)were higher than the control. The activities of SDH which reflects the status of aerobic metabolism was weaker than the control while the activity of LDH which reflects the status of anaerobic metabolism was significantly higher than the control during the transportation. The THC was significantly lower than the control,the activities of SOD and POD were lower than the control while with the increasing of time,they higher than the control. After recovery,the activities of HK,PK,SOD and POD recovered to normal level. But the concentration of Glu and LD,the activities of PFK,SDH,LDH and THC were significantly different from the control. The above facts suggest that during the transportation the glycolysis cycle accelerates and the metabolism of shrimps switches from aerobic to anaerobic,humoral immune function still works. 8 h waterless transportation of the white prawn did not cause the metabolic and immunological dysfunction.The results would provide information for studying the application of waterless transportation of live white shrimp