Effect of cypermethrin toxicity on enzyme activities in the freshwater fish Cyprinus carpio

Abstract

Cyprinus carpio a freshwater fish, was exposed to lethal concentration (7.5 µg/L) for one, three, five, seven and nine days and, sublethal concentration (1.5 µg/L) for 1, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days of cypermethrin, respectively to observe the enzyme activity in functionally three different tissues; that is, muscle, gill and liver. The activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) were increased in all the tissues with an increase in exposure time of cypermethrin. Though, under sublethal concentration of cypermethrin for 14, 21 and 28 days, a decreasing trend was observed in all the three tissues. The increased levels of amino transferase might be attributed to tissue damage under toxic stress in C. carpio. It has been concluded that the usefulness of the enzymes as biomarkers of cypermethrin toxicity appeared to be concentration and tissue dependent and can be effectively used to assess the impact of the agrochemical on the fish.