Effect of dietary histamine supplementation on growth, digestive enzyme activities and morphology of intestine and hepatopancreas in the Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis

A 28-days feeding experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of histamine on digestive physiology of the Chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis. Four experimental diets were supplemented with histamine at 0, 1, 2, 4 g/kg. Histamine supplementation had no effect on growth. The activities of digestive enzyme decreased significantly at first (days 7 and 14) (p < 0.05) and then increased or finally slightly recovered in the hepatopancreas and intestinal tract on the 28th day. Tryptase and amylase activities were inhibited significantly in each histamine-treated group on day 7 as compared to the control (p < 0.05). On day 7, 14 and 28, tryptase mRNA relative expression in the histamine treatments correlated positively with the histamine concentration (p < 0.05). Histopathologic analyses showed serious alterations in hepatopancreas, moderate alterations in the hindgut and intestinal bulb, and no alterations in the midgut. In hepatopancreas, low levels (1 g/kg) of histamine caused an increase in the number of B-cells. High levels (4 g/kg) of histamine increased the number of R-cells, which were also highly vacuolized. In extreme cases, the basal lamina was detached from the tubule. In the intestinal bulb and hindgut, high levels of histamine (4 g/kg) decreased the density of reserve inclusion cells. Thus, this indicated that histamine had dose-dependent effect on the activity of digestive enzymes and the morphology of the intestine and hepatopancreas.