Histopathological Alterations due to the Effect of Lead Nitrate on the Testis of Freshwater Fish, Channa Striatus (Bloch, 1793)

Shivani Sharma

doi:10.12944/carj.6.2.11

Abstract

The present study examined the histopathological effect of lead nitrate on the testis of fish (Channa striatus). Fishes having average length 20-25 cm and weight 50-60 g were distributed into four groups. The fishes of group I were kept as control, while II, III and IV were exposed to sub lethal concentrations (8, 18 and 28 mg/l) of lead nitrate for 30, 60 and 90 days. Examined sections revealed that the testis of C. striatus had damaged wall of seminiferous tubules, disorganization of seminiferous tubules, clustering of seminiferous tubules, deshaped and damaged seminiferous tubules, indistinguishable leydig’s cells, reduction in the number of leydig’s cells, necrosis, vacuolization, centralization of spermatozoa and reduction in the number of spermatozoa. The result of the present study clearly indicates that testicular histopathological alterations depend on duration of exposure and concentration of lead nitrate in the testis of Channa striatus.

Highlights

At present a large amount of metals are introduced through human activities into the natural environment
Histological sections of the testis of the experimental fishes are shown in Fig. 1 to Fig. 10
In case of Group IV fishes, the common histoarchitectural alterations observed on the 30th day of lead nitrate exposure were clustering of seminiferous tubules, disorganization of seminiferous tubules, damaged walls of seminiferous tubules and centralization of spermatozoa (Fig. 8)

Summary

Introduction

At present a large amount of metals are introduced through human activities into the natural environment. Heavy metal pollution is becoming a serious issue of increasing concern to the survival of living organisms, including fish. Mercury and lead are toxic to most aquatic organisms even in low concentrations[1] that produce histological alterations including liver damage[2], respiratory dysfunctions[3], testicular and ovarian alterations[4,5,6]. Histopathological studies are being widely used as reliable biomarkers for determining the health of the contaminants exposed fishes[10,11]. These pathological studies indicated the damage of cell membranes which increases the injury to more critical targets[12]. The present study was carried out to investigate the testicular

Methods

Results

Conclusion