Alterations in iron, zinc and major plasma proteins of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), and brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis (Mitchill), with sterile peritonitis induced by oil-adjuvanted multivalent bacterin vaccination

The early humoral responses of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), and brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis (Mitchill), with sterile inflammation induced by intraperitoneal Lipogen Triple vaccination were compared to determine if genetic differences in susceptibility to furunculosis in salmonids correlated with different acute phase responses to vaccination. Similar severe acute sterile peritonitis occurred in response to Lipogen Triple in both species. Both species also had a rapid transient reduction in plasma iron concentration at 3 days. Moderate hypoferraemia persisted to day 14 in brook trout, but returned to normal by day 7 in rainbow trout, plasma zinc decreased sharply 3 days after vaccination in rainbow trout and returned nearly to control levels by day 10; however, plasma zinc did not change in brook trout. Two-dimensional sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide electrophoresis of plasma proteins revealed that increased amounts of a 48-kDa protein group coincided with the hypoferraemic response in rainbow trout. In addition, a modest elevation in a 16-kDa protein group also occurred in rainbow trout. These studies demonstrated the rapid changes in plasma iron in both species and mild elevation of two putative acute phase plasma proteins associated with vaccine-induced inflammation in rainbow trout.