African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 5 (12), pp. 1180-1189, 16 June 2006   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2006 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

Assessment of toxicity and clastogenicity of sterigmatocystin in Egyptian Nile tilapia

Karima Fathy Mahrous¹, Wagdy Khalil Bassaly Khalil¹, Mahmoud Aly Mahmoud²

¹Cell Biology Department, National Research Center, 12622 Dokki, Giza, Egypt.

²Pathology Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: l_fathy@yahoo.com. Tel: +2-02-3371433; Fax: +2-02-337 0931.

Accepted 12 January, 2006

The increasing presence of genotoxic pollutants in the aquatic environment has led to the development of quick monitoring methods. Sterigmatocystin (Stg) is closely related to mycotoxins and has the carcinogenic potency in the experimental animal models. The exposure to genotoxic agents will give rise to alterations of DNA structure that can lead to abnormal changes of DNA fingerprints. Therefore, we have applied the random amplified polymorphism DNA (RAPD) method to evaluate the genotoxic effects of Stg and to determine if the Egyptian montmorillonite (EM) has a protective effect against Stg. The experiment was conducted in vivo to evaluate the ability of EM at a level 0.5 mg/kg body weight (bw) to prevent the toxicity and genotoxicity induced by Stg in the Nile tilapia fish. Fishes were orally administrated with EM in corn oil with or without Stg (1.6 µg/kg bw) twice a week for 4 weeks. Blood and tissue samples were collected at the end of the treatment. The results revealed that Stg had genotoxic and toxicopathological effects in Oreochromis niloticus fish. The genotoxic effects were indicated by appearance of some changes in polymorphism band patterns including lost of stable bands or occurrence of new bands. There also exists a distinct distance between the band patterns of exposed fish and protected or control fish samples. The effects on the tissues were manifested by different histopathological lesions in different organs including hyperplastic proliferation of branchial epithelium, necrobiotic changes in hepatic tissue and destruction of components of the spleen. These responses were virtually abolished or markedly decreased when fishes were exposed to EM combined with Stg. It could be conclude that addition of EM resulted in the inhibition of the toxicity and clastogenicity of Stg.

Key words: Fish, DNA fingerprinting, montmorillonite, sterigmatocystin.