Title: Melanomacrophage proliferation in the spleen of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus L.) as biomarker of insecticides loading from the waters of Laguna de Bay, Municipality of Bay, Laguna, Philippines

Authors: Maryjoie A. Armero-Lituañas; Pablo P. Ocampo

Addresses: College of Engineering Architecture and Technology, De La Salle University-Dasmariñas, Dasmariñas City, Cavite, Philippines ' Animal Biology Division, Institute Biological Sciences, University of the Philippines Los Baños, 4031 College, Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines

Abstract: Massive use of insecticides along Laguna de Bay exacerbates the poor condition of the lake waters. Hence, this study was done to evaluate the size and number of Melanomacrophage (MMCs) of ten freshly caught sampled O. niloticus L. (April 2010-May 2010, dry season; October 2010-November 2010, wet season) collected from bay fish cages with no sexual preferences and from a reference pond per season for five consecutive weeks. The spleen was obtained and stained by Perl's technique. The study revealed that there were significant (P < 0.05) differences in the number of splenic MMCs during the dry season while there were no significant differences (P > 0.05) during the wet season. Also, there were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in the sizes of MMCs for both seasons. The results, suggest that MMCs are reliable biomarkers for water quality in terms of environmental stress because of insecticides loading.

Keywords: melanomacrophage centres; insecticides; O. niloticus L.; Perl's technique; spleen; water quality; ecology; melanomacrophage proliferation; Nile tilapia; Oreochromis niloticus L.; biomarkers; Philippines; lake waters; water pollution.

DOI: 10.1504/IJARGE.2015.069783

International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, 2015 Vol.11 No.1, pp.11 - 23

Received: 28 Apr 2014
Accepted: 29 Oct 2014

Published online: 11 Jun 2015 *

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