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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mar. Sci.

Sec. Marine Fisheries, Aquaculture and Living Resources

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1620056

Therapeutic Potential of Cervi Cornus Colla in Zebrafish Bone Injury: Implications for Aquaculture

Provisionally accepted
Fengxia  XuFengxia Xu1Limin  DongLimin Dong2Chengxue  QinChengxue Qin1Yanru  RenYanru Ren1Liang  KongLiang Kong1Mengru  ZhangMengru Zhang3Haitao  DuHaitao Du3Qing  XiaQing Xia4Cheng  WangCheng Wang3*Ping  WangPing Wang3*
  • 1Shandong Hanfang Pharmaceutical Co. LTD, Jinan, China
  • 2Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
  • 3Shandong Academy of Chinese Medicine, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
  • 4Qilu University of Technology, Jinan, Shandong Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Bone, as both a crucial organ with mechanical support and immune regulatory functions, profoundly influencing the growth and development of fish in aquaculture systems. Deer antler and its aqueous extract Cervi Cornus Colla (CCC), are natural medicinal substances known for their bone-protective properties. This study investigated the osteoprotective effects of CCC against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced injury to fish bones. An LPS-mediated zebrafish skeletal injury model was established and evaluated using Alcian Blue/Alizarin Red staining, fluorescence tracing, ELISA, and qPCR. The median lethal concentration (LC₅₀) of CCC in zebrafish was 206.3 μg/mL, and staining revealed that CCC reversed LPS-induced reduction in cartilage and bone formation in a dose-dependent manner. In Tg (mpeg1: EGFP) zebrafish, CCC treatment significantly decreased macrophages-associated green fluorescence, suggesting that the extract suppressed the activation of macrophages caused by LPS. CCC also reduced the production of several inflammatory factors (IL-6, IL-1β, and NO). Furthermore, qRT-PCR confirmed CCC restored COL2α1 and Sox9a mRNA levels. Additional studies revealed CCC inhibits LPS-induced activation of the TGF-β/Smad3 signaling pathway. This study demonstrates that CCC can alleviate zebrafish bone injury, thereby providing an experimental basis for its application in the prevention and treatment of bone diseases in farmed fish.

Keywords: Aquaculture, cervi cornus Colla, Zebrafish, Bone, Immunity

Received: 29 Apr 2025; Accepted: 04 Aug 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Xu, Dong, Qin, Ren, Kong, Zhang, Du, Xia, Wang and Wang. 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:
Cheng Wang, Shandong Academy of Chinese Medicine, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
Ping Wang, Shandong Academy of Chinese Medicine, Jinan, Shandong Province, China

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