Cytopathological changes of Selected Tissues in Asian Sea Bass, Latescalcarifer (Bloch) Exposed to Mercury

Abstract

 Heavy metal concentrations of mercury and the associated structural deformities in the gills, muscles, intestine, brainand liverof Asian sea bass, Latescalcarifer were observed for sublethal toxicity studies.Cytopathological alterations in gill tissuesdisplayed oedema of epithelial cells, ballooning dilation, partial epithelial lifting, and damaged pillar cells; the muscle displayed shortening of muscle bundles, oedema and necrosis, atrophy of muscle bundles, and vacuolar degeneration in muscle bundles;the intestine showed deformities in degeneration in cup villi, atrophy of muscularis layer, inflammation in mucosa and submucosa, and degeneration in submucosa, serosa, and tunica serosa. In the brain,the pathology was observed as necrosis of the brain cells, degeneration of nerve cells, atrophy, and dissolution of nissel bodies. The liver tissue showed degenerative hepatocytes and nuclear hypertrophy. The present study demonstrated that all the treated body tissues exhibited significant damage with response; among the body organs, the liver and brain are important target organs for mercury toxicity in L. calcarifer, which suggest that biomarkers are useful in assessing the model organism for toxicity studies.