Response of Acid and Alkaline Phosphatase Activities to Copper Exposure and Recovery in Freshwater Fish Carassius auratus gibelio var

Phosphatase is known to be sensitive to metal exposures and can be used to predict metal toxicity. In this study, freshwater fish Carassius auratus gibelio var were exposed to different concentrations (0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0mg/L) of copper for 96 h, and the group of 2.0 mg/L exposure was then transferred to clean water for different days (1, 4, 8 and 12d) to assess recovery profile. Responses of acid phosphatase (ACP) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities from kidney, liver, gill, spleen, muscle and brain to copper exposure and recovery were investigated. As shown from the results, after a 96-h copper exposure, ACP and ALP activities in different organs/tissues appeared to be different. At the highest copper concentration (2.0 mg/L), compared with the control, ACP activity decreased significantly in kidney, liver, gill and spleen, but increased significantly in muscle and brain. ALP activity decreased significantly in kidney, liver, gill, spleen and brain. However, after removing 2.0 mg/L copper exposure, ACP and ALP activities in different organs/tissues all normalized within 12 days. The observed data suggest that ACP and ALP in spleen of Carassius auratus gibelio var are most sensitive to copper stress and might be used as suitable biomarkers for copper contamination in aquatic environment. (Hongxia Jiang, Hongmei Yang, Xianghui Kong, Shuping Wang, Dequan Liu, Siju Shi. Response of Acid and Alkaline Phosphatase Activities to Copper Exposure and Recovery in Freshwater Fish Carassius auratus gibelio var. Life Sci J 2012;9(3):233-245) (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 35