Antibacterial Mechanism of Chitosan-Gentamicin and Its Effect on the Intestinal Flora of Infected with .

To explore the application of chitosan-gentamicin conjugate (CS-GT) in inhibiting (), which is an important pathogen in aquatic animals worldwide, the antimicrobial activity of CS-GT and the effects of a CS-GT dose on the intestine histopathology and intestinal flora of -infected shrimps were explored. The results showed that CS-GT possessed broad-spectrum antibacterial activity, with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) and half inhibitory concentration (IC) of 20.00 ± 0.01, 75.00 ± 0.02 and 18.72 ± 3.17 μg/mL for , respectively. Further scanning electron microscope and cell membrane damage analyses displayed that the electrostatic interaction of CS-GT with cell membrane strengthened after CS grafted GT, resulting in leakage of nucleic acid and electrolytes of . On the other hand, histopathology investigation indicated that high (100 mg/kg) and medium (50 mg/kg) doses of CS-GT could alleviate the injury of a shrimp's intestine caused by . Further 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis found high and medium dose of CS-GT could effectively inhabit invasion and reduce intestinal dysfunction. In conclusion, CS-GT possesses good antibacterial activity and could protect shrimps from pathogenic bacteria infection.