Digital light microscopy as a tool in toxicological evaluation of fish erythrocyte morphological abnormalities

Fish erythrocytes are very sensitive to environmental pollution because they exhibit pathological alterations before appearance of other external symptoms, may be used as reliable toxicity bioindicators. Microscopic analysis can be a useful tool in early detection of alterations in erythrocyte morphology due to different environmental stressors, and in predicting organism's possible response ways. This study aims to evaluate the toxicity of a polluted freshwater lake on the erythrocytes of crucian carp fish, Carassius carassius, using digital light microscopy (DLM). Scanning DLM micrographs revealed the presence of nuclear and cytoplasmic abnormalities like micronucleus, nuclear buds, lobed nucleus, deformed nucleus, vacuolated cytoplasm, and echinocyte in the erythrocytes of crucian carp fish from a polluted lake. The obtained results substantiate that computation of erythrocyte morphological damages as biomarkers of exposure, through digital light microscopy software, can be effectively used as a toxicological tool.