ISSN 2736-1756
Advanced Journal of Microbiology Research Vol. 2007
Available online at http://internationalscholarsjournals.org/journal/ajmr
© 2007 International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Biochemical assessment of the effects of crude oil contaminated catfish (Clarias gariepinus) on the hepatocytes and performance of rat
T. O. Sunmonu* and O. B. Oloyede
Department of Biochemistry, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.
Accepted 12 April, 2007
Abstract
Biochemical investigations were carried out to assess the effect of consumption of crude oil contami-nated catfish on the hepatocytes and performance of rat. Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) (n = 120) were grouped into 6 of 20 catfish each and held for 30 h in 5 different mixtures of crude oil polluted water (0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1% v/v). Catfish in the control group were held in borehole water. At the expira-tion of 30 h, the catfish were harvested and used to formulate diet. Albino rats (n = 60) were grouped into 6 of 10 rats each and fed on the formulated diet for a period of 30 days. Compared with the control, the result showed no significant difference (p>0.05) in the average daily feed intake in all the groups of rats. However, a significant reduction (p<0.05) was observed in the overall body weight, the liver-to-body weight ratio as well as the serum concentrations of albumin and globulin of rat as the amount of crude oil in the diet increased. A significant increase (p<0.05) was also observed in the serum bilirubin concentration of rats fed on diet formulated with crude oil contaminated catfish when compared with the control. Histological analysis also revealed that the architectural arrangement of the liver was alte-red following the consumption of diet containing catfish exposed to crude oil polluted water. Overall, the data obtained indicate a possible adverse effect on the performance and impaired liver function in the rats fed on diet containing catfish exposed to crude oil polluted water.
Key words: Crude oil, hepatocytes, catfish, albumin, globulin, bilirubin.