article · Annals of Animal Science
Antibiotic use in aquaculture faces widespread bans and restrictions due to environmental contamination, drug residues in fish and shrimp flesh, and the emergence of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms. While alternatives such as probiotics, prebiotics, and essential oils can enhance immune responses and lower mortality rates, antimicrobial peptides present a promising substitute. These small peptides stimulate innate immune systems and mount potent defences against a broad spectrum of pathogens, including bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses. Derived from mammalian, amphibian, insect, aquatic, plant, and microbial origins, their unique structural properties enable vital therapeutic applications against infectious diseases in aquatic species. In addition to direct antimicrobial activity, they provide significant immunostimulatory benefits. Understanding their classifications, sources, modes of action, and biological functions supports ongoing efforts to develop sustainable aquatic health strategies and replace conventional antibiotics in medicated feed.
Routine antibiotic administration in fish farming creates severe environmental risks and promotes resistant pathogens that endanger food production. Finding reliable, biologically derived alternatives is critical to maintaining animal welfare and safeguarding human food supplies. Antimicrobial peptides offer a multifaceted defence mechanism, boosting aquatic immunity while clearing infectious agents, which can lead to healthier, more sustainable aquaculture production systems without chemical residues.
Antimicrobial peptides offer potential as functional feed additives and disease control treatments for fish and shrimp producers seeking to replace banned antibiotics. Derived from diverse biological sources, they could be formulated into medicated aquafeeds by feed manufacturers and animal health companies. However, because this work presents a review of existing knowledge and potential applications, practical commercialisation remains at an early exploratory stage, requiring further testing before operational deployment.
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Abstract The use of antibiotics for the control of infections has not only been banned by FDA for use in food-producing animals, but also several countries have prohibited their use in aquaculture because of several reasons such as the occurrence of antibiotic-tolerant microorganisms, accumulation of antibiotic residues in fish and shrimp flesh, and aquatic environmental effluence concerns. These issues have led researchers and aquaculture scientists to conduct several studies to find antibiotic alternatives. Numerous substitutes have been evaluated, such as probiotics, synbiotics, prebiotics, postbiotics, phytogenics, essential oils, and several others. Results show that these supplements demonstrate proven efficacy in enhancing immune responses, reducing mortalities resulting from experimental infections, and reducing antibiotic usage in medicated aquafeed. Nonetheless, using antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) to control fish diseases and as antibiotic alternatives is a promising and interesting research topic. AMPs are a vital class of small peptides that could stimulate the innate immune system against challenging pathogens and also possess significant potent defensive responses against a variety of infectious and noninfectious pathogenic agents, including bacteria, parasites, fungi, and viruses. Regarding their source origin, AMPs can be classified into six main types: mammalian-, amphibian-, insect-, aquatic-, plant-, and microorganism-derived AMPs. On account of their unique structure, they can display an essential function in therapeutic strategies against infectious diseases affecting fish and shrimp. Reports showed several kinds of AMPs had a wide spectrum of antimicrobial properties. These effects are besides their prominent immunostimulatory functions. Thus, they may be considered a functional alternative to antibiotics in aquaculture. This article provides information on the current knowledge about the modes of action, sources, classification, functions, and potential applications for the development of aquatic animal health. The information included in this context will be valuable to enhance the sustainability of aquaculture.
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DOI: 10.2478/aoas-2022-0090
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