-Carotene extracted from Blakeslea tripsora attenuates oxidative stress, inflammatory, hepatic injury and immune damage induced by copper sulfate in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

beta-Carotene, as a kind of potent antioxidant compounds, has gained extensive attention. Blakeslea trispora, filiform aerobic fungus, has been proposed as a natural source of beta-carotene for commercial exploitation. However, it has not yet been investigated whether beta-carotene extracted from Blakeslea trispora can attenuate oxidative stress, inflammatory, liver injury and immune damage of zebrafish (Danio rerio) exposed to copper sulfate (CuSO4). In this study, we evaluated the effects of beta-carotene on migration of GFP-labeled neutrophils, histological changes of liver, markers of oxidative, inflammatory cytokines and transaminase analysis, as well the expression and activities of apoptosis, immune-related certain genes in zebrafish treated with different concentrations of beta-carotene (0, 10, 20, 40 mu g/mL) after exposure to CuSO4. The results indicated that ll-carotene reduced migration of neutrophils and released liver damage. What's more, beta-carotene was found to reduce index levels of oxidative stress response (HMOX-1, reactive oxygen species (ROS), NADPH, MDA), inflammatory factors (interleukine-1 beta (IL-1 beta), interleukine-6 (IL-6), interleukine-8 (IL-8), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha)), liver function protein (AST, ALT) which increased by CuSO4. beta-Carotene also promoted the activities of SOD, GSH-Px, ACP, AKP and LZM and increased the protein of immune-related factors, IgM and IFN-gamma after exposure CuSO4. Thus, our results demonstrate that beta-carotene has an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and atoprotective activity and participation in immunoregulation.