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Excess usage of synthetic pesticides in agricultural fields perculates down the ecosystem to other livestock and fishes and thereby pose threat to humans. This has lead to prominence of bio pesticides which have always been thought to be harmless to the non-target organisms. However, literature on the safety of these biopesticides is limited. In this context, here, we studied the effect of Karanjin based botanical biopesticide Derisom on the biochemical parameters in various tissues of a fresh water fish species. We selected the edible common carp Cyprinus carpio (L.) for the study as it is an important protein food source for humans. The effect of the biopesticide - Derisom on certain metabolites and enzymes of protein metabolism were evaluated in gill, liver, kidney and the muscle of C. carpio during sublethal toxicity exposure of 21 days. About 0.28 ppm was taken as the sublethal value. The organs were taken from the exposed and control groups at the end of 1h, 7, 14 and 21 days, and were used for estimation of total proteins, free amino acids, glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), alanine amino transferase (ALAT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AAT). All the four organs showed significant difference between control and exposed groups in all the estimated parameters on all the days of exposure. The present study considers the above biochemical parameters as an important biomarker in determining the level of toxicity caused by the biopesticide Derisom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Histopathology serves as a very good marker of environmental toxicology and also useful in monitoring health status of aquatic vertebrates. Histological alterations in organs i.e. gill, liver, kidney and muscle of Cyprinus carpio were observed during sub-lethal exposure of biopesticide Derisom for a period of 21 days. Fishes of exposed group showed alterations in gill like vacuolation, curling of secondary gill lamellae, infiltration of inflammatory cells, etc. The liver of exposed fishes showed alterations such as vacuolation, hydropic degeneration, necrosis, cytoplasmic degeneration, etc. The kidney of the exposed fishes showed changes such as epithelial rupture, degenerative changes, vacuolation, etc. The muscle of the exposed fishes showed changes such as splitting of muscle fibres, increased inter muscular space, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We have come across the plant secondary metabolites having pesticidal properties being used in the form of pesticides. In this study, we used one of newly available and plant metabolite used as pesticide in wide agricultural fields - Karanjin, obtained from seeds of plant Pongamia pinnata. Methods: The study was conducted during the month of March 2016 at the Department of Zoology, Osmania University. The fish common carp- Cyprinus carpio was exposed to sub-lethal concentration of karanjin i.e., 1/10th of 96 h LC50 value (0.28 ppm) for a period of 21 d. Moreover, at 24 h, 7 d, 14 d and 21 d, the peripheral blood of both control and exposed group fishes were studied for the presences of micronuclei and other nuclear abnormalities. Results: The micronuclei were completely absent, i.e., were not seen during the sub-lethal exposure period. There were seen nuclear abnormalities such as blebbed nuclei (BN), notched nuclei (NN), differently shaped nuclei (DSN), pear-shaped nuclei (PSN), circular nuclei (CN), lobed nuclei (LN) and Karyolysed nuclei (KN). The control group showed few nuclear abnormalities. Conclusion: During the sub-lethal exposure, as the days of exposure increased, the types of aberrations and their number also increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An investigation on the toxicity of two biopesticidal plants - Carica papaya and Nerium oleander aqueous leaf extracts to Oreochromis mossambicus. The LC50 value of Carica papaya and Nerium oleander aqueous leaf extracts was 700 ppm and 400 ppm respectively. The sub lethal concentration for C. papaya and N. oleander was 70ppm and 40ppm respectively. The fishes were exposed to the sub lethal concentration for a period of 14 days. At the end of 7th and 14th day the fishes were dissected and the gill, liver and intestine were removed from exposed and control group fishes. The tissues were processed and sectioned at 4μm and then were stained with Haematoxylin- Eosin. The observation of the slides was done under light microscope at 40x magnification and photographed. The exposed group showed histopathological changes in the tissues, such as: shrunken and narrow secondary gill lamellae, mild to moderate infiltration of inflammatory cells in the primary and secondary gill lamellae, vacuolar degeneration of epithelial cells of intestinal villi, massive infiltration of inflammatory cells throughout the base of the villi and disruption of epithelial cells. The liver showed swollen nucleus, hydrated and vacuolar degeneration of hepatocytes and mild pockets of infiltration of inflammatory cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Adverse effects caused by the synthetic pesticides has forced scientists to develop an alternative against the synthetic pesticides. Therefore, it has come a boon to mankind in the form of neem tree having secondary metabolites showing pesticidal properties which is in use since many years. Like neem tree, there has been research done on karanja plant, and its secondary metabolite karanjin has been found to possess good pesticidal properties. Comet assay or alkaline single-cell gel electrophoresis (SCG) was performed in fish Cyprinus carpio after exposure to sub-lethal concentration (0.28 ppm) of karanjin. The assay was carried out in the gill, liver, kidney, and blood. The total DNA content in each tissue was also estimated using Nano Drop.Results: The present study clearly shows that though karanjin is a derived secondary metabolite from plant, it is capable of producing genotoxicity in common carp. As the days of sub-lethal exposure increased, all the four tissues showed decrease in total DNA content which was directly proportional to the formation of DNA comet tails.Conclusion: The use of any kind of plant metabolites in the agriculture and aquaculture farms should be monitored well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]