TOXICITY ASSESSMENT ON HAEMATOLOGY AND ENZYMOLOGICAL ALTERATIONS OF AL2O3 NANOPARTICLES EXPOSED FRESHWATER FISH, OREOCHROMIS MOSSAMBICUS (PETERS, 1852).

The rapid development of nanotechnology needs to study the toxic effects of nanoparticles. Aluminium oxide (AL₂O₃ NPs) is inevitable metal oxide nanoparticles has multiple applications in various fields. The impact of AL₂O₃ NPs on the aquatic system is very scarce. Thus, the aim of the present study was designed to evaluate the toxic effect of AL₂O₃ NPs on freshwater fish Oreochromis mossambicus. The AL₂O₃ was synthesized by simple sol-gel method and characterized by UVspectroscopy, FT-IR, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and SEM with EDX. Further, synthesized and characterized AL₂O₃ nanoparticles were orally introduced to the fish Oreochromis mossambicus in sub-lethal doses of (3.3, 5, 10 mg/kg body weight) for the period of 7 days. The haematological (Hb, RBC, WBC, HCT, MCV, MCH, MCHC) indices and tissue damaging enzymes (GOT and GPT) activity were observed in gill, liver and muscle tissues of treated fishes. The results revealed that synthesized AL₂O₃ NPs induced significant (P< 0.05) alterations in haematology and increased (P< 0.05) GOT and GPT activity in fish at tested doses. The current study gives an insight into the toxic effect of AL₂O₃ NPs on freshwater fish O. mossambicus and also demonstrates that manufactured metal oxide NPs may pose potential risk to the environment and to human populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]