Abstract
The field of nanotechnology is rapidly expanding with the advancement of novel nanopesticide and nanofertilizers that have the potential for revolutionizing applications in the agricultural industry. Here, we have done chronic toxicity of cadmium dioxide nanoparticles (CdONPs) on fish Oreochromis mossambicus (O. mossambicus) using oxidative stress and genotoxic biomarkers. In this current study, the value of LC(50)-96 hr of CdONPs has observed 40 μg/ml for O. mossambicus. The three sublethal concentrations, e.g., 4, 10, and 20 μg/ml were selected based on the LC(50) value. The fishes were treated to the above concentration of CdONPs for 21 days and were harvested at 1, 7, 14, and 21 days for evaluation of clastogenicity, mutagenicity, and genotoxicity of NPs. Generally, significant effects (p < 0.01) were observed as a dose and duration of exposure. It was observed that lipid peroxidation (LPO) was increased and glutathione was decreased in both tissues. Micronuclei (MNi) were produced significantly in peripheral blood on 21 days at maximum concentration. A similar trend was seen in the damage of DNA with the same manner in terms of the percentage of tail DNA in the lymphocyte, gills, and kidney cells. This study explored the application oxidative stress, comet assay, and micronucleus assay for in situ aquatic laboratory studies using fish O. mossambicus for screening the ecomutagenic and genotoxic potential of environmental pollutants.