ISSN: 2375-446X
Paul McCain, Parveen Quarrar and Ahmed Mustafa
In this study properties of the nutraceutical capsaicin were assessed in order to determine the effects on several stress bio-markers in teleost fish. Coho Salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch, were fed a diet supplemented with capsaicin for 8 weeks, and a thermal stressor was used in order to ascertain capsaicin’s ability to modulate said stress in comparison with control animals. Biomarkers; plasma cortisol, blood glucose, spleen somatic index, packed cell volume, plasma protein, condition factor, and macrophage phagocytic activity were assessed bi-weekly during the trial. The results of ANOVA comparison indicated that capsaicin produced no statistically significant differences between fish receiving the capsaicin and those which did not. A cluster based analysis using WEKA data mining software confirmed the findings that at 0.02% of the diet, capsaicin produced no statistically significant differences.