Maria Del Mar Ortega-Villaizan Romo
Various studies have shown that the nucleated erythrocytes of fish, apart from transporting oxygen in the body, develop specific responses to different stimuli. In the light of this evidence, and in an attempt to improve knowledge of the immune mechanisms responsible for the protection of fish against viral infections, we ask ourselves the following question: Could fish nucleated erythrocytes be key mediators of the antiviral response? To answer this question, we decided to focus our work on the evaluation of erythrocytes in the scenario of viral infections of fish and their prophylaxis, in order to find new therapeutic targets for aquaculture.