Regulatory role of vitamin A in lipid metabolism and health of Eriocheir sinensis fed different vegetable oil sources

The present study investigated the effect of vitamin A on growth performance, lipid metabolism, fatty acid composition, antioxidant ability and inflammatory response of crabs fed different vegetable oils. The dose of 6000 IU/kg of dietary vitamin A was supplemented into three basal diets with different lipid sources: coconut oil (CO), olive oil (OO) and perilla oil (PO), respectively, to make six diets to feed crabs (0.71 ± 0.01 g) for 8-week. The interaction between vitamin A and lipid source did not influence the survival rate, final body weight, weight gain and specific growth rate of crabs. Crabs fed CO showed the worst growth performance and aggravating inflammation. In contrast, crabs fed PO tended to have optimal growth performance with the lowest body lipid content and hemolymph triglyceride. Besides, there were high contents of polyunsaturated fatty acids and malonaldehyde in the hepatopancreas of crabs fed PO. However, dietary vitamin A improved growth performance and relieved inflammation of crabs fed different lipid sources. Vitamin A enhanced the antioxidant activity in crabs fed OO and PO and mitigated lipid peroxidation in crabs fed PO. Moreover, vitamin A tended to hinder lipid synthesis, increase fatty acid catabolism and decrease triglyceride in the hepatopancreas and hepatopancreas index. The relative proportion of n-3 highly polyunsaturated fatty acids was improved in the hepatopancreas of crabs fed three sources of vegetable oil after supplementing vitamin A. This study indicates that dietary vitamin A supplements can improve vegetable oil utilization and relieve the adverse effect caused by vegetable oil.