The concept of maintaining animal health through the best possible nutrition is well-accepted in modern animal farming and functional amino acids appear to be good candidates to improve health and survival. Tryptophan have known roles in the improvement of the immune response to infection and recent evidence indicates that several immune mechanisms are influenced by its availability. Still, the potential use of tryptophan supplementation for animal health management is not fully developed.

In this context, the INFLAMMAA project mainly aims to provide a better understanding of the underpinning neuro-endocrine and immune machinery of fish fed tryptophan supplements during inflammatory conditions and to deliver a deeper understanding of the basic mechanisms involved during acute and chronic inflammatory processes. This is particularly important for the aquaculture industry, where few therapeutic possibilities are available against infectious episodes.