An Analytical Study on the Influence of Neem Oil on Malathion in the Fish Oreochromis mossambicus

Abstract

The widespread distribution and toxic nature of pesticides and their constituents has a serious impact on the aquatic environment, and exert adverse effects on the associated organisms. The aim and objective of the present study was to investigate the influence of malathion and neem oil individually and also in combination on the fresh water fish, Oreochromis mossambicus to elucidate the changes in the different target organs like liver and kidney with reference to biochemical and histopathological studies. For acute toxicity (96 hours) and chronic toxicity (21 days) experiments, the median lethal concentration (LC₅₀) of neem oil and malathion were maintained. The results revealed that the biological analysis for total protein and lipid increased in combination of neem oil and malathion which was comparatively more than that of the neem oil and malathion maintained individually. Histopathological studies in acute and chronic toxicity of fishes exposed to neem oil, the liver showed normal hepatocellular architecture, while fishes exposed to malathion only and those of malathion combined with neem oil showed hepatocellular degeneration, while the latter showed the signs of recovery. The kidney of neem oil-exposed fishes had normal renal architecture, but those exposed to malathion had epithelial cell degeneration and necrosis, and those exposed to both neem oil and malathion had mild degeneration. This study discovered that neem oil interacts with malathion and has a protective effect against the toxicant's adverse effects.