Mass kills in hatchery-reared European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) triggered by concomitant infections of Amyloodinium ocellatum and Vibrio alginolyticus.

Amyloodiniosis and vibriosis are serious diseases in European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) hatcheries with noticeable high mortality. This study was conducted on tank-cultured D. labrax frys at a private marine hatchery near Mariout Lake (Alexandria, Egypt). Frys showed a high mortality rate (70%), lethargy, darkening, asphyxia, ascites, and velvety skin appearance. Both infectious agents were presumptively identified in all investigated frys. The identities of the two recovered agents were confirmed by molecular assay and phylogenetic analysis. On the tissue level, histopathological examination of skin, splenic, and renal tissue indicated severe alterations due to the direct impacts of both infections. On the cellular level, scanning electron micrographs showed both protozoal and bacterial pathogens on/in gill epithelial cells in solitary and colonial forms. Vibrio alginolyticus showed variable results for tested antibiotics, with a higher sensitivity to florfenicol. A successful control strategy was strictly adopted to overcome infections and stop mortalities. Copper sulphate and hydrogen peroxide were efficiently applied to tank water to overcome A. ocellatum infections. Further, florfenicol was effectively used to overcome systemic V. alginolyticus infections. The efficacy of treatments was confirmed by the absence of infectious agents in randomly collected fish samples. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is one of the earliest Egyptian studies that dealt with the dilemma of mass kills associated with external parasitic/systemic bacterial infections among hatchery-reared European seabass.

Co-Delivery of Itraconazole and Docetaxel by Core/Shell Lipid Nanocells for Systemic Antiangiogenesis and Tumor Growth Inhibition.

The combination of antiangiogenesis with chemotherapy has become a promising multi-modal combinational therapy for solid tumor. However, hypoxia-mediated resistance and the subsequent treatment failure associated with antiangiogenesis therapy have limited the maximization of this promising approach. It remains a major challenge to balance the effect of angiogenesis and the accumulation of the cytotoxic drug within the tumor microenvironment. In this study, we report a nanotechnology based drug delivery solution that would improve both the antiangiogenic activity and cytotoxic efficacy of the loaded drugs. We designed core-shell 'lipid nanocells' drug delivery systems (denoted as DTX/ITZ-LNCs), which entrapped the antiangiogenic drug itraconazole (ITZ) in the outside liposomal shell and encapsulated anticancer drug docetaxel (DTX) in the inner hydrophobic PLGA core. In vitro evaluations showed that the dual drug loaded DTX/ITZ-LNCs retained the cytotoxic efficacy of the DTX against both the sensitive and multidrug resistant breast cancer cell line MCF-7. DTX/ITZ-LNCs also effectively inhibited the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) induced migratory and invasive actions of HUVECs and neovascularization of subcutaneously implanted matrigel plugs. The tumor growth of MCF-7 tumor xenograft model was effectively inhibited by the systemic administration of the DTX/ITZ-LNCs. Taken together, these results showed that the DTX/ITZ-LNCs provided a drug delivery platform that can optimize the combinatory effects of the antiangiogenic agent with a conventional chemotherapeutic agent.