EFFECT OF ACUTE DOSES OF BASIC VIOLET-1 (BV-1) ON ANTIOXIDANT/DETOXIFICATION ENZYMES OF Labeo rohita

Labeo rohita fingerlings (7.6 – 11.3 cm length and 16.1 – 26.7 g weight) were exposed for 96h to 0, 0.2 (LC10), 0.4 (LC30), 0.6 (LC55), 0.8 and 1 mg/l of Basic violet-1 (BV-1, CI No. 42535), a widely used azo dye in dyeing and textile industries. Antioxidant/detoxification enzymes such as glutathione-s-transferase (GST), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were estimated in liver, kidney, gill, muscle and brain of the fish as markers for the stress of BV-1. After 96h, the fish were kept for a recovery period of 30 days and activity of enzymes was determined at 15 day intervals. Significant dose dependent increase over control in the activity of GR was observed in all the tissues while a significant decrease over control was observed in SOD activity in all the tissues. The results indicate that the dye is very toxic to L. rohita as there was a marked change in the activity of selected enzymes in the exposed fish. Gill was maximally affected tissue whereas GR was maximally affected enzyme and the effect prolonged till the end of recovery period. So this enzyme in gill can be considered as best biomarker to determine toxicity of even very low doses of the azo dye BV-1 in fish.