Development of novel delivery technologies for vaccination through oral administration of farmed salmon

• Main Author: Ali, Zainab
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: UCL (University College London) 2019
• Subjects: Atlantic salmon; Salmo salar
• Online Access: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10066741/1/Ali_10066741_thesis.pdf; https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10066741/

In current times, the aquaculture industry has been faced with the dramatic on-set of various viral diseases specifically infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). In order for the industry to persevere through and successfully meet a consistently growing demand, substantial measures need to be taken. The process of vaccination is known to reduce incidence of disease in addition to reducing intensity of infection as well. Even though vaccination has gradually become an essential part of disease control, there are still some challenges that need to be faced head on. Maintenance of antigen viability, incorporation of antigen in an appropriate delivery system and process of antigen delivery require further understanding as limited research has been reported on the development of oral delivery systems as far as vaccination in aquaculture is concerned. This thesis explored three fundamental elements of oral drug delivery development; optimisation of microbead fabrication techniques, characterisation of microbeads through their unique mechanical and dissolution properties and finally the analysis of immune response following consumption of orally delivered antigen. The first objective of this thesis was to demonstrate the potential of electrospraying (ES) and aerodynamically assisted jetting (AAJ) as fabrication methodologies for advanced orally deliverable systems. Micron-ranged delivery systems have previously been utilized for the long-term delivery of active biological compounds. However conventional methodologies pose significant challenges, particularly poor sample repeatability, lack of homogeneity and poor control, among other drawbacks. This thesis reports ES and AAJ as possessing the ability to produce highly monodisperse, porous and reproducible polymeric microbeads at low cost. Operational maps obtained through an extensive sizing study established that ES possessed the ability to produce microbeads ranging from 250 – 2500 µm while AAJ produced beads ranging from 25 – 60 ...