Pathologic liver lesions in orange spotted grouper Epinephelus coioides exposed to Benzo[a]Pyrene

Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), is a ubiquitous environmental contaminant present in air, water, and sediment. BaP is readily absorbed by all routes of exposure and can pass directly through the plasma membrane of most cell types. The present study was conducted to examine the effects of BaP on liver tissue structure in orange spotted grouper Epinephelus coioides affected by different concentration of BaP. In the present report, 100 E. coioides were exposed by intraperitoneal injection to 2, 20 and 200 mg/kg of BaP for 14d under laboratory conditions and the samples were taken from fish liver in days 0, 2, 4, 7 and 14 of experiment for histopathological study. The liver samples were fixed in 10%formalin buffer solution. Fivemicrometer thick sections were obtained and were stained in hematoxylin/eosin for examination in light microscopy. No pathological alteration was observed in the liver samples of controls fish. The pathological alterations of liver were including of hepatocyte vacuoletion, increase of melanomacrophage centers, dilation of diss space, sinusoidal dilation, focal necrosis, hepatocytes hypertrophy, nucleus in a lateral position and hepatocyte degeneration. The frequency and severity of tissue changes rose with the increase of BaP concentration in all sampling days. The most frequency and severity of histopathological alteration were observed in fish treated by 200 mg/kg BaP in day 7.