ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Comparative Immunology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1631655
This article is part of the Research TopicImmune Adaptations in Aquatic Species: Defenses, Gene Diversity, and Environmental StressorsView all articles
The high temperature stress responses in the hepatopancreas of Litopenaeus vannamei: from immune dysfunction to metabolic remodeling cascade
Provisionally accepted
- 1South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Guangzhou, China
- 2Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization and Processing of Marine Fishery Resources of Hainan Province, Sanya Tropical Fisheries Research Institute, Sanya, China
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Sudden fluctuations in environmental temperatures are primarily caused by climate change. Aquatic organisms such as shrimp are poikilothermic animals, making them highly vulnerable to rising water temperatures, which can trigger stress responses and reduce aquaculture productivity.Hepatopancreas is of vital importance to the immunity, metabolism and detoxification of shrimp. In this study, the shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei were continuously exposed to HT stress at 33 °C for 7 days, and the hepatopancreatic histopathology, immune-related indexes, and metabolite patterns were explored. The results showed that HT stress caused abnormal morphological changes in the hepatopancreas of the shrimp, with the hepatic tubules becoming twisted, atrophied, and even ruptured and autolyzed. At the molecular level, stress-related indexes, such as Nrf2, GPx, and HSP70 genes expression were increased, while SOD and HSP90 genes were decreased; immune-related indexes, such as ALF, Crus, and proPO genes expression were increased, whereas Pen3 gene was decreased; inflammation-related genes (JNK and TNFα) and apoptosis-related genes (Casp9 and Casp3) expression were increased; autophagy-related indexes, such as Atg3, Atg16, and Beclin1 genes expression were increased. Futhermore, HT stress caused the alterations in the metabolic patterns of the hepatopancreas, such as amino acid biosynthesis and metabolism, pentose and glucuronate interconversions, pantothenate and CoA biosynthesis, pyrimidine metabolism, and glycerophospholipid metabolism. Functional metabolites, such as tryptophan, arachidonic acid, cinnamic acid derivatives, vitamins, etc., were identified as biomarker candidates. The results revealed that HT stress induced comprehensive histomorphological and functional impairments in the hepatopancreas of L. vannamei through a cascade of oxidative damage, immune dysregulation, and metabolic disturbance.
Keywords: shrimp, high temperature, Immunity, Metabolites, Gene Expression
Received: 20 May 2025; Accepted: 12 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Duan, Xiao, Wang, Huang, Yang and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yafei Duan, South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Guangzhou, China
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