Digestive enzyme levels and histopathology of pancreas disease in farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar).

1. The pancreatic digestive enzyme activities of trypsin and chymotrypsin were assessed in vitro and were found to correlate well with the histological changes characteristic of pancreas disease (PD) in farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). 2. Pancreatic enzyme activity was assessed in vivo using the chymotrypsin specific substrate N-benzoyl-L-tyrosyl-p-aminobenzoic acid. In all cases, significantly less p-aminobenzoic acid was excreted by fish later found to be suffering from PD. 3. It is concluded that the in vitro digestive enzyme assay was effective in diagnosing PD with the in vivo method, indicating further promise for assessing exocrine pancreatic function.