In order to assess the effects of starvation on intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes (i-IEL) count and histological changes of the carp gut mucosa, one group of fish (n = 10) were fed commercially prepared standard diets and another group of fish (n = 10) were starved for 4 weeks. Carp starved for 4 weeks developed enteropathy, comprising folds atrophy, stratum compactum hyperplasia, significant periodic-acid-Schiff (PAS)-positive (P0.00001), but not Alcian blue (ALB)-positive, goblet cell (GC) hyperplasia and a significant decrease (P0.00001) in i-IEL numbers. These changes were associated with a dense cellular infiltrate into the lamina propria. Taken together, these data suggest that the pathobiology of starvation-induced i-IELs decrease, matching PAS-positive goblet cell proliferation and inflammatory cells homing to the gut, could be classified as a non-infectious enteropathy induced by starvation.
