Microplastics Contamination in the Edible Fish Mozambique Tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) from the Selvampathy Wetland of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.

The present study investigated the microplastics (MPs) contamination in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, gills and muscle of the Mozambique tilapia, Oreochromis mossambicus sampled from the Selvampathy Lake of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. MPs abundance was found in 10 to 28, 8 to 27, and 4 to 12 particles and their size ranged between 4.4 and 210, 4.6 to 180, and 4.5 to 194 µm in the GI tract, gills and muscle, respectively. MPs were dominantly shaped as fibres (95%) and fragments (5%) with the following colour pattern of blue > black > pink > transparent > and others. Extracted MPs polymer nature were polyethylene (54%), polyamide (38%) and polypropylene (8%). The present study reveals that the edible fish O. mossambicus had MPs that can be transferred to consumers. Moreover, urban discharges, including domestic wastes, agricultural and rainwater runoff, might be possible MPs sources to the studied wetland.

The impact of ocean acidification and cadmium toxicity in the marine crab Scylla serrata: Biological indices and oxidative stress responses.

Ocean acidification (OA) and heavy metal pollution in marine environments are potentially threatening marine life. The interactive effect of OA and heavy metals could be more vulnerable to marine organisms than individual exposures. In the current study, the effect of OA on the toxicity of cadmium (Cd) in the crab Scylla serrata was evaluated. Crab instars (0.07 cm length and 0.1 g weight) were subjected to pH 8.2, 7.8, 7.6, 7.4, 7.2, and 7.0 with and without 0.01 mg l-1 of Cd for 60 days. We noticed a significant decrease in growth, molting, protein, carbohydrate, amino acid, lipid, alkaline phosphatase, and haemocytes of crabs under OA + Cd compared to OA treatment. In contrast, the growth, protein, amino acid, and haemocyte levels were significantly affected by OA, Cd, and its interactions (OA + Cd). However, superoxide dismutase, catalase, lipid peroxidation, glutamic oxaloacetate transaminase, glutamic pyruvate transaminase, and accumulation of Cd in crabs were considerably elevated in OA + Cd treatments compared to OA alone treatments. The present investigation showed that the effect of Cd toxicity might be raised under OA on S. serrata. Our study demonstrated that OA significantly affects the biological indices and oxidative stress responses of S. serrata exposed to Cd toxicity.

Evaluation of haemolymph phenoloxidase activity from the grub of Zophobas morio as a predictor of immune response.

In insects, enzyme phenoloxidase plays a critical role in cuticular sclerotisation and defensive functions. In the present investigation, haemolymph phenoloxidase activity from the grub of Zophobas morio was attempted to evaluate as a reliable predictor of insect's immunological response. Among the various substrates tested, L-DOPA was chosen as an appropriate substrate due to its high oxidation. The optimum pH and temperature for haemolymph PO activity was found to be 8 and 30 °C, respectively. The optimum substrate concentration of L-DOPA was found to be 7.5 mM for subsequent PO enzymatic characterisation. Among the various chemical inhibitors and copper chelators, PO activity was significantly reduced in the case of PMSF and thiourea. Preincubation of haemolymph with non-self-molecules showed enhancement of PO activity in the case of LPS from Serratia marcescens. In addition, exogenous proteases like α-chymotrypsin enhanced the PO activity of haemolymph and an increase in PO activity was demonstrated when haemolymph was preincubated with the anionic detergent, SDS and cationic detergent, cetyl pyridium chloride. Alteration of PO activity was observed under agonising conditions of starvation, ligation and microplastics injection at different time intervals. Interestingly, there were no correlation between PO and insect defence under live challenge of microbes. SDS protein profile revealed a significant increase in the 85 kDa and 55 kDa polypeptides in all the experiments over control after 24 h, 48 h and 96 h. Mass spectrophotometric analysis of the polypeptides revealed their homology to antimicrobial peptides for 55 kDa protein and 85 kDa protein. A significant increase in 85 kDa polypeptide was observed in the haemolymph of the grubs after 72 h in the case of starved and microplastics injected groups only. These results demonstrated that PO may not be a reliable benchmark of immunological response in this insect.

Effects of acidified seawater on biological and physiological responses of Artemia franciscana.

Ocean acidification is becoming a potential threat to marine animals. The present study investigated the effect of seawater acidification on Artemia franciscana. A. franciscana cysts were allowed to hatch at different pH levels of pH 8.2 (control), 7.8, and 6.8. After 48 h incubation, the hatching percentage was significantly reduced in acidified seawater compared to that in control. Further, the hatched Artemia nauplii from each pH treatment were transferred to freshly acidified seawater for chronic study for 15 days. At the end of the experiment, survival, growth, and biochemical constituents were significantly decreased in Artemia at pH 7.8 and 6.8 compared to that in control, which indicates the adverse effects of acidified seawater on Artemia. The antioxidants, lipid peroxidation, and metabolic enzymes were significantly elevated in A. franciscana exposed to acidified seawater compared to that in control, which shows oxidative and metabolic stress on A. franciscana under acidified environment.

Trends in the extraction, purification, characterisation and biological activities of polysaccharides from tropical and sub-tropical fruits - A comprehensive review.

Tropical and sub-tropical fruits are tremendous sources of polysaccharides (PSs), which are of great interest in the human welfare system as natural medicines, food and cosmetics. This review paper aims to highlight the recent trends in extraction (conventional and non-conventional), purification and analytic techniques of fruit polysaccharides (FPSs). The chemical structure and biological activities, such as immunomodulatory, anti-cancer, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, anti-coagulant and anti-diabetic effects, of PSs extracted from 53 various fruits were compared and discussed. With this wide coverage, a total of 172 scientific articles were reviewed and discussed. This comprehensive survey from previous studies suggests that the FPSs are non-toxic and highly biocompatible. In addition, this review highlights that FPSs might be excellent functional foods as well as effective therapeutic drugs. Finally, the future research advances of FPSs are also described. The content of this review will promote human wellness-based food product development in the future.

Dietary Supplementation of Magnesium Oxide (MgO) Nanoparticles for Better Survival and Growth of the Freshwater Prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii Post-larvae.

This study was performed to assess the growth-promoting potential of dietary magnesium oxide nanoparticles (MgO NPs) in Macrobrachium rosenbergii post-larvae (PL). MgO NPs were supplemented at 0, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 mg kg-1 with the basal diet (containing 0.95 g Mg kg-1); the concentrations of Mg in MgO NP-supplemented diets were increased correspondingly (1.07, 1.15, 1.24, 1.37 and 1.46 g Mg kg-1 respectively). MgO NP-supplemented diets were fed to M. rosenbergii PL (initial weight 0.11 ± 0.04 g) for a period of 90 days. In the carcasses of experimental prawns, the content of Mg was found to be elevated significantly with respect to the individual diet (102.14, 183.29, 205.46, 221.03, 237.10 and 254.36 µg Mg g-1 respectively) when compared with that of the control. The contents of Cu, Zn, Fe, Ca, Na and K levels were also found to be elevated in the carcasses of experimental prawns. Significant (P < 0.05) improvements were observed in nutritional indices [survival rate (SR), weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER)], activities of digestive enzymes (protease, amylase and lipase), concentrations of basic biochemical constituents (total protein, amino acid, carbohydrate, lipid, profiles of amino acids and fatty acids) and population of haemocytes [total and differential (hyalinocytes, semigranulocytes and granulocytes)] in all the test PL. Maximum performance was recorded in 500 mg kg-1 MgO NP-supplemented-feed-fed PL. There were no significant elevations recorded in activities of antioxidant enzymes [superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT)], lipid peroxidation (LPO) and metabolic enzymes [glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) and glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT)] recorded in any of the MgO NP-supplemented-feed-fed PL when compared with the control. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) showed increases in the staining intensity of polypeptide bands resolved in 500 mg kg-1 MgO NP-supplemented-feed-fed PL when compared with the control. Based on the gradual improvement in attaining survival, growth, FCR, biochemical constituents and haemocyte population, this study recommends MgO NP supplementation of 500 mg kg-1 for sustainable maintenance of M. rosenbergii PL. As the studied highest concentration of MgO NPs showed the best performance, it is necessary to study with beyond 500 mg kg-1 of MgO NPs to optimize the actual concentration.