RESUMO
The effect of radiation on the aquatic environment is of major concern in recent years. Limited data is available on the genotoxicity of gamma radiation on different tissues of aquatic organisms. Hence, the present investigation was carried out to study the DNA damage induced by gamma radiation in the gill and muscle tissues and their relative sensitivity using the comet assay in the freshwater teleost fish, common carp (Cyprinus carpio). The comet assay was optimized and validated in common carp using cyclophosphamide (CP), a reference genotoxic agent. The fish were exposed (acute) to various doses of gamma radiation (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10Gy) and samplings (gill and muscle tissue) were done at regular intervals (24, 48 and 72h) to assess the DNA damage. A significant increase in DNA damage was observed as indicated by an increase in % tail DNA for all doses of gamma radiation in both tissues. We also observed a dose-related increase and a time-dependent decrease of DNA damage. In comparison, DNA damage showed different sensitivity among the tissues at different doses. This shows that a particular dose may have different effects on different tissues which could be due to physiological factors of the particular tissue. Our study also suggests that the gills and muscle of fish are sensitive and reliable tissues for evaluating the genotoxic effects of reference and environmental agents, using the comet assay.