Studies on effects of chronic exposure of endosulfan to Labeo rohita.

The major carp, Labeo rohita (Hamilton) upon chronic exposure to endosulfan showed hyperglycemia (60.11 to 117.71 mg 100 ml-1) and hypercholestemia (51.78 to 76.87 mg 100 ml-1) of blood when compared to the control. As a result of the insecticidal stress, the tissue metabolites and enzymes like AST and ALT revealed significant alterations. The hormones T3 (0.53 to 1.35 /ml l-1) and TSH (0.48 to 0.32 /ml l-1) were also affected by the endosulfan even in sub lethal concentration. Signficant histopathological alterations were observed in liver and gill of treated fishes. The reason for the significant alterations in tissue sugars, aminoacids, cholesterol, protein, enzymes and homones and the histopathological changes is discussed.

Antibacterial effects of goat and chicken heart tissues against human pathogenic bacteria.

The crude buffer (Tris Buffer Saline-I) extracts of muscles, liver, kidney and heart of goat and chicken (White leghorn) were screened against 16 clinical isolates. Among the five tissues, the heart tissue of each animal showed significant bactericidal activities on many isolates. The acid extracted crude proteins of both heart tissues also showed significant antibacterial activities against many bacterial isolates. The crude proteins of goat heart tissues displayed strong bactericidal activities against Salmonella paratyphi ‘A’ and Salmonella typhimurium (MIC: 16 g/ml) whereas the crude proteins of chicken heart tissues displayed strong bactericidal activities against Escherichia coli ATCC and Pseudomonas aeruginosa at 16 and 63 g/ml concentrations respectively. The peptides of low molecular weight (< 30 kDa) were also separated from the acid extracted crude proteins of goat and chicken heart tissues by SDS-PAGE after staining with silver nitrate solution.

Fresh water fishes as indicators of Kaveri River pollution.

The survey of fish fauna in Kaveri River at polluted and unpolluted sites revealed a direct effect on the distribution of fishes in that 14 species were observed in unpolluted site and only 6 species in polluted site. Further, the haemotological parameters like RBC, WBC and haemoglobin content increased in fishes collected from polluted site whereas the organic constituents of muscle decreased in the above fishes when compared to the fishes of unpolluted site. The reason for the above changes is discussed.