EVALUATION OF THE IMMUNOMODULATORY EFFECTS OF SILYMARIN EXTRACT (SILYBUM MARIANUM ) ON SOME IMMUNE PARAMETERS OF RAINBOW TROUT, ONCORHYNCHUS MYKISS (ACTINOPTERYGII: SALMONIFORMES: SALMONIDAE)

In fish therapy efforts reported from many parts of the world, chemical drugs in aquaculture industry have been replaced by herbal medicine (Dugenci et al. 2003, Citarasu et al. 2006). The role of plant extracts in stimulating the fish immune system challenged with bacterial-, parasitic-, and fungal agents has been the subject of many studies (Sivaram et al. 2004, Vasudeva Rao and Chakrabarti 2005, Citarasu et al. 2006, Vasudeva Rao et al. 2006, Divyagneswari et al. 2007). However, the effect of herbal drugs on the health status of fish has been overlooked in most of these studies. Consequently, not much is known about usage of commercial herbal medicine in aquaculture. Therefore, investigating the effects of these compounds after administration seems a necessity. Liver failures and diseases, food and drug poising and foetal diseases such as viral hepatitis (El-Kamary et al. 2009), diabetes (Soto et al. 2003), ischemia (Oliveira et al. 2001, Canbek et al. 2008), etc. in human and laboratory animals can traditionally be treated by one of the most important herbal medicines called milk thistle, Silybum marianum (Family: Asteraceae; known also as Compositae). The ACTA ICHTHYOLOGICA ET PISCATORIA (2012) 42 (2): 113–120 DOI: 10.3750/AIP2011.42.2.04