Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei (EHP) is highly contagious and can cause hepatopancreatic microsporidiosis (HPM), which is typically characterized by the slow growth of shrimp. In this study, the differences in histology, metabolism, oxidative stress and growth between healthy and EHP-infected Penaeus vannamei were analyzed using an EHP challenge experiment. Histology showed that EHP caused lesions in the hepatic tubules of P. vannamei, such as hepatic tubular atrophy and epithelial cell shedding, with mature spores. Meanwhile, white feces may appear when the infection is severe. Furthermore, the content of total protein, glycogen, ATP and glucose in the EHP challenge group was significantly reduced. The qPCR results showed that EHP infection changed the expression of key genes in glucose metabolism, among which hexokinase (HK), phosphofructokinase (PFK), pyruvatekinase (PK), citrate synthase (CS) and isocitric dehydrogenase (IDH) were significantly down-regulated, while phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), fructose bisphosphatase (FBP) and glucose-6-phosphatase (G6P) were significantly up-regulated. Obviously, the expression of growth-related genes was disordered. Simultaneously, the antioxidant genes manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), glutathione-S-transferases (GST) and nuclear factor E2-related factor2 (Nrf2) were up-regulated to varying degrees in the EHP challenge group, and EHP infection induced significant increases in the oxidative damage products lipid peroxide (LPO) and malondialdehyde (MDA). Ultimately, the shrimp weight of the challenge group was 6.85 ± 0.86 g, which was significantly lower than that of the control group (8.95 ± 0.75 g). Taken together, we speculate that EHP changes the substance metabolism and growth process by causing oxidative damage to the hepatopancreas, which may lead to the growth retardation of P. vannamei.
Keywords: Penaeus vannamei; antioxidant defense; glucose metabolism; growth performance; microsporidia.