Study of mercury induced morphological and biochemical changes in liver of Cirrhinus mrigala

The aquatic animals are exposed to elevated levels of heavy metals continuously.Mercury (Hg) is highly toxic, nonessential, persistent, immutable and nonbiodegradable metal and is highly toxic to animals and cause death and sub lethal pathology of aquatic animals. The present study has been undertaken to explore the toxic effects of mercury on fish liver and to detect the spectral changes after the exposure. The biochemical changes after mercury exposure are studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Optical absorbance and photoluminescence. The surface morphology of liver is studied by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM).The spectroscopic techniques like FTIR, EDX, Absorbance and PL can be used as a firm tool to detect the impact of toxic elements. The present study can be used to correlate the overall biochemical status of the tissues with histopathological changes undergone at cellular level after chronic exposure to mercury.