Study of sodium arsenite induced biochemical changes on certain biomolecules of the freshwater catfish Clarias batrachus

Toxic impact of sublethal concentration (1 mg/L; 5% of 96h LC50 value) of sodium arsenite (NaAsO2) on certain biomolecules (proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and glycogen) of five tissue components (muscles, liver, brain, skin, and gills) of the freshwater catfish Clarias batrachus was analysed. The important toxic manifestations include marked decrease in the concentration of proteins (21.72-45.42% in muscles; 3.42-53.94% in liver; 15.39-45.42% in brain; 15.40-4.00% in skin and 11.35-64.13% in gills), DNA (0.55-22.95% in muscles; 8.33-14.06% in liver; 5.30-18.40% in brain; 13.57-52.80% in skin; and 12.38-31.01% in gills), RNA (42.68-76.16% in muscles; 10.68-39.75% in liver; 5.66-29.05% in brain; 7.72-27.93% in skin and 21.47-44.38% in gills) and glycogen (24.00-51.72% in muscles; 49.11-72.45% in liver; 11.49-26.03% in brain; 26.13-38.05% in skin and 17.80-37.97% in gills). Excepting liver where the lipid content increases (15.82-24.13%), the fat content also showed depletion in their concentration (10.40-29.83% in muscles; 8.30-34.45% in brain; 8.94-31.47% in skin and 12.75-28.86% in gills), in the rest of the organ systems.