The acute and subacute effects of silver nanocolloid on liver aspartate aminotransferase enzyme in the Caspian kutum (Rutilus kutum) fry

Increasing the use of silver nanoparticles, and subsequently increasing nano-effluent, could increase the possibility of nanoparticles entering the aquatic environment and its effect on aquatic organisms. To measure changes in aminotransferases is one of the ways to assay the effects of pollutants. The aim of this study is to investigate the changes of the enzyme aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in the liver of the Caspian kutum fry under the influence of silver nanocolloid. For this purpose, fishes were exposed to different concentrations of nanocolloid based on 0.05, 0. 35 and 0.7 of LC5096h (0.25ml/l) for 21 days. The sampling of the liver was achieved randomly on the 7th and 21st days. First, liver samples were homogenized by phosphate buffer (pH: 7.2) and then centrifuged and the supernatant was used for enzymatic analysis. The absorbance of the samples was read at 340 nm using a spectrophotometer. One-way ANOVA and T-test were used to examine the significant differences between and within the groups. The results showed a significant increase in AST activity in the liver of fish exposed to silver nanocolloid on days 7 and 21 of the test compared to the control (p<0.05). Also, AST levels increased significantly on day 21 compared to day 7 (p<0.05). In conclusion, According to the increased activity of aminotransferases (considered as indicators of liver damage), it can be concluded that silver nanocolloid has toxic effects on Rutilus kutum.