Cytogenetic evaluation of cadmium chloride on Channa punctatus.

The aim of present study was to evaluate the genotoxic effect of heavy metal in Channa punctatus through the micronucleus test, chromosomal aberrations and sister chromatid exchange. The fish were kept separately in 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 5.0 ppm cadmium chloride for 3 days. For micronucleus test blood was collected from caudal vein and smeared on clean slides fixed in methanol and stained with 2% Giemsa. Mean frequency of micronuclei observed was 0.10, 0.15, 0.24, 0.34 and 0.39 in control, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 5.0 ppm CdCl2 respectively. In vivo chromosome preparation from kidney tissues was carried out. The mean frequency of cells with aberrations observed was 0.13, 0.20, 0.34, 0.60 and 0.95 in control, 0.5,1.0, 2.0 and 5.0 ppm CdCl2 respectively. Likewise the mean frequency of SCE observed was 0.05, 0.16, 0.36, 0.44 and 0.52 in control, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 5.0 ppm CdCl2 respectively. It has been revealed from the results of this study that cadmium produced genotoxic effects in fish.