Assessment of Sub Lethal Toxicity of Hydrocortisone (C21H30O5): Physiological and Hematological Biomarker Reactions on Anabas Testudineus

Abstract

Application of wide range of pharmaceuticals is a serious threat to the environment causing a significant deterioration of aquatic faunal health as well as its survival status. The widespread detection of various types of drugs (antibiotics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, beta-blockers, etc.) present in the aquatic ecosystem directly works on physiological parameters at different levels of aquatic organisms especially the bioindicators, fishes. The experiment was carried out to evaluate the exposure of sub lethal concentration of hydrocortisone on oxygen consumption, gill movement, haematological and percentage of bone calcium of the freshwater fish, Anabas testudineus . When compared to control, the exposed fishes exhibit significant alterations in their physiological activity. The rate of oxygen consumption is indirectly proportional to dosage concentration as well as exposure time. Both the rate of gill movement and oxygen consumption were decreased with increasing concentration of hydrocortisone. Under exposure, the marked decline was recorded in both RBCs and Hb count when compared to control (P < .05). The percentage of bone calcium level was significantly decreased by the toxicity of hydrocortisone. The current study stipulates that the exposure of sub lethal concentration of hydrocortisone on Anabas testudineus alters the physiological and hematological parameters. From the results, it is noteworthy that the steroid drug, hydrocortisone even at low concentrations causes deteriorative impacts on the health conditions of aquatic organism. KEYWORDS : Hydrocortisone, oxygen consumption, gill movement, haematology, bone calcium, Anabas testudineus.