Effects of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on hematological parameters of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss

• DOI: 10.1007/s00580-014-1927-5
• Publication Date: 2014-04-26T07:45:24Z
• Authors: Mohsen Imani; Mostafa Halimi; Hossein Khara
• Keywords: 01 natural sciences; 6. Clean water; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences; 3. Good health

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are potentially toxic materials that are used today in numerous consumer products. Releasing of AgNPs to aquatic environment may affect adversely aquatic animal health including fish. In this study, we examined the effects of AgNPs on hematological parameters of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss. The parameters include red blood cells (RBCs) and hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (Hct), white blood cells (WBCs), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), total protein (TP), and albumin (AL). Three treatment groups included fish treated with 0.1 mg/l AgNP solution (T1), 0.2 mg/l AgNP (T2), and 0.4 mg/l AgNP (T3), and one group without AgNP treatment was considered as control group. In the fourth and eighth days of the experiment, the values of RBCs and WBCs were higher in all treatments than those in the control group (P < 0.05). The Hct in the T3 group showed lower values than that of the control group in the eighth day (P < 0.05). Although the Hb concentrations were higher in the T2 and T3 groups than those in the control group in the first blood sampling, a significant decrease compared to the control group was observed in Hb values in the second sampling for the T3 group (P < 0.05). The MCV and MCH in the treatment groups decreased as the concentration of AgNPs increased (P < 0.05). In contrast, the MCHC values showed an increasing trend as the concentration of AgNPs increased (P < 0.05). The concentrations of liver enzymes (i.e., ALT, AST, ALP, and LDH) were higher in all treatment groups than those in the control group (P < 0.05). The TP and AL concentrations decreased compared to the control group as the concentration of AgNPs increased (P < 0.05). Our results demonstrated that silver nanoparticles induce significant changes in hematologic parameters of rainbow trout.