Effects of Two Sublethal Concentrations of Mercury Chloride on the Morphology and Metallothionein Activity in the Liver of Zebrafish (Danio rerio).

ABSTRACT: Mercury (Hg) is a highly hazardous pollutant widely used in industrial, pharmaceutical and agricultural fields. Mercury is found in the environment in several forms, elemental, inorganic (iHg) and organic, all of which are toxic. Considering that the liver is the organ primarily involved in the regulation of metabolic pathways, homeostasis and detoxification we investigated the morphological and ultrastructural effects in Danio rerio liver after 96 h exposure to two low HgCl₂ concentrations (7.7 and 38.5 μg/L). We showed that a short-term exposure to very low concentrations of iHg severely affects liver morphology and ultrastructure. The main effects recorded in this work were: cytoplasm vacuolization, decrease in both lipid droplets and glycogen granules, increase in number of mitochondri

SUBMITTER: Macirella R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4813222 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature