Micronucleus assay: a sensitive indicator for aquatic pollution

Abstract

The aquatic resource is the major part of our environment, therefore its safety is directly related to our health. In this study, fresh water fish Channa punctatus was taken as a test model to estimate water pollution using micronucleus (MN) assay. The test has been used successfully as a mutagenic assay. The fish was exposed in vivo to three different concentrations (MC, MC/2 and MC/5) of two pesticides (Chlorpyriphos and Malathion) at different time periods (5,10,15,20,25days).Peripheral blood samples smears were stained with Giemsa , MN frequencies were counted and statistically analysed. Result from this study recommends the use of the micronucleus test in fish erythrocyte as a sensitive indicator for evaluation and assessment of aquatic pollution.