ABSTRACT
Background: Qarun and Burullus Lakes suffer from serious pollution problems owing to the enormous input of untreated agricultural, domestic and industrial effluents. This study was conducted to explain the effect of water pollution of these lakes on some physiological parameters of O. niloticus
Results: Showed clearly that water collected from both Qarun and Burullus Lakes were contaminated with high levels of lead and cadmium. The concentration of Pb and Cd in Lake Qarun [0.074 and 0.006 ppm respectively] were much lower than that of Burullus Lake [0.112 and 0.011ppm respectively]. The study showed that the rates of Pb bioaccumulations were increased significantly in the muscles of O. niloticus collected from Brurllues Lake than that of Qarun Lake. It can be seen also that there are insignificant differences of Cd concentrations in muscles of tilapians collected from both Lakes. Analysis of liver functions shwoed a highly significant increase in the level of ALT in O. niloticus liver collected from Brurllues Lake than tilapia'sb liver from Qarun Lake. Both AST and GGT levels were insignificantly changed in fishes collected from both Lakes [no change in the table]. Investigation of kidney functions of tilapias collected from Qarun and Burullus Lakes showed that urea concentration was significantly increased in kidney of Tilapia gathered from Burullus Lake [32.40 +/- 0.93 mg/dl] than those collected from Qarun Lake [28.80 +/- 0.73 mg/dl]. Creatinine concentrations were significantly increased in kidney of tilapias gathered from Burullus Lake than Qarun Lake. Cholesterol, Triglycerides, high density lipoproteins [HDL], low density lipoproteins [LDL], and very low density lipoproteins [VLDL] in the muscles of tilapians collected from Burllues Lake were highly significant increase while total proteins were significantly decreased in comparison with tilapians of Qaron Lake