Glutathione reductase and catalase as potential biomarkers for synergistic intoxication of pesticides in fish

Abstract

Synergy occurs when chemicals give pronounced effect on combination in contrast to their individual effect. The objective of this study was to investigate the synergistic effect of pesticides carbaryl (C) and methyl parathion (MP) on oxidative stress biomarkers viz catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GSSG-R) including different enzymes like lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) and acetyl cholinesterase (AChE) in different tissues of carps Catla catla. Fishes were exposed to 6.25 mg/L of MP and 2.3 mg/L of C in mixture (one-third of LC₅₀ value). CAT and GSSG-R were studied in gills, brain, liver and muscle of carp were found to be elevated significantly (p < 0.005). LDH activity increased significantly (p < 0.005) in synergistic group, there was a seven-fold (748%) increase in LDH activity in muscle compared to individual studies with same pesticides. Contrary to LDH, sudden decrease in SDH activity was accounted. Significant (p < 0.005) decrease in AChE activity after initial 24 h was remarkable addressing to the shift in neurotransmission pathway in organism. Significant increase was observed in activity of CAT and GSSG-R in all tissues compared to control fishes in individual as well as synergistic (MP + C) group suggesting that CAT and GSSG-R can be a potential biomarker of oxidative stress when studied in combination.

Keywords:

• Synergy
• carbaryl
• methyl parathion
• toxicity
• CAT
• GSSG-R

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the Director, CSIR-NEERI, Nagpur for providing all the laboratory facilities. The authors are also thankful to College of Fishery Science, Telankhedi, Nagpur for providing the healthy fishes.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the grant sanctioned by SERB, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, Delhi under Early Career Research Award Scheme No. ECR/2017/001574 and the corresponding author thankfully acknowledges Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) for the financial assistance.