Monothiols and Vitamins are Ideal Therapeutic Agents for Mercury Elimination from Nervous and Non-Nervous Tissues of Fish

Abstract

Use of mercury and its compounds in various industries and agriculture is increasing its concentration in aquatic environment and affecting the organisms living therein. Among these, the fishes are commercially important for humans as an important source of protein. The fish meat transfers good amount of mercury to man, therefore, its elimination is quit essential both from fishes and the consumers. As a step in this direction, the present study has been designed to detoxify the fishes from mercury. For this purpose a freshwater fish (Channa punctatus) was treated with mercuric chloride (0.5 ppm) for 96 h and thereafter, detoxicated with vitamin B complex, glutathione and N-acetyl-DL-homocysteine thiolactone used either alone or in various combinations for another 96 h. One group of 96-h mercury treated animals were kept in tap water and sacrificed after 192 h. This group was considered as mercury washed group and it served as control to all therapeutic groups. Mercury treated fish showed a highest concentration of the metal in kidney followed by liver, gills, brain and muscles. In mercury washed group, metal was removed significantly from all the non-nervous tissues, but in brain about 52% further increase was observed. The results obtained from theraputic studies were quite exciting as 50–80% mercury was mobilized from all tissues including brain within 96 h of treatment.

Keywords:

• Mercury
• Detoxication
• Fish
• Monothiols
• Vitamins