Abstract:Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) results from acute toxicity in the hepatopancreas of infected shrimp caused by the toxic proteins PirAVp and PirBVp, which are expressed by the pVA1 plasmid carried by AHPND-causing Vibrio parahaemolyticus (VpAHPND). In this study, Litopenaeus vannamei were exposed to 2.19×105 CFU/ml VpAHPND strain 20130629002S01 by immersion to explore the dynamic changes of VpAHPND in the tissues of shrimp. The hepatopancreas, gills, midgut, and muscle of infected shrimp were collected 2~9 days after immersion infection, and the quantity of pirAVP was measured by qPCR. The results showed that VpAHPND could be detected in all sampled tissues of infected shrimp. The amount of VpAHPND in the hepatopancreas reached a peak on day 4 post-infection at 8.71×104 copies/mg, while the gills, muscle, and midgut reached peaks on day 3, 4, and 5 post-infection at 9.08×103、2.59×104、5.76×104 copies/mg, respectively. The highest amount of VpAHPND was detected in the gills during the early stage of infection, followed by the hepatopancreas and midgut in sequence during heavy disease, with frequent deaths. Subsequently, the amount of VpAHPND declined rapidly in all tissues, with similar levels in the midgut, hepatopancreas, and muscle. Histopathology revealed that AHPND lesions were denser in hepatopancreas samples from moribund shrimp compared with those from morbid shrimp, when taken at the same time from infection. Furthermore, the histopathologic symptoms of both became more severe along the infection process, but with decreasing levels of VpAHPND. The results showed that the copy number of pirAVp in tissues of VpAHPND-infected shrimp does not represent the real-time condition of diseased shrimp and the quantity of VpAHPND may not be high in a severe AHPND sample.
