Effect of the coke oven effluent of Bhilai Steel Plant on ALAT and ASAT activities in liver and gills of Channa punctatus (Bloch)

The coke oven effluent of Bhilai steel plant has been reported to contain a high amount of phenol, besides the presence of other toxic substances. Hence, this work on its effect on the Aspartate amino transaminases (ASAT) and Alanine amino transaminases (ALAT) activities in liver and gills of Channa punctatus was undertaken as an attempt to study the stress response of fishes to the presence of this effluent. Exposure of fishes to three different concentrations of whole effluent (10%, 20% and 30%) along with tap water as control was done in groups of 12 fishes each. Collection of fresh samples of target organs, (liver and gills) from each group was done by dissection at 7 days interval for 28 days. The organs removed were immersed in 0.9% saline and quickly stored at −23°C for further use. Extraction of sample was done by homogenizing 1 g. of each tissue type (liver and gill) with 5 ml of freshly prepared 0.9% ice cold saline followed by centrifugation at 6000 rpm for 15 minutes. The supernatant obtained was used for enzyme assay. The activities of ALAT and ASAT were estimated according to the methods of 2,4-DNPH (Reitman and Frankel 1957). The results obtained were expressed as IU/litre. Data obtained from the study were subjected to descriptive statistics to establish mean and standard error. Significance of treatments was assessed by two-way ANOVA using SPSS. Higher activity of ALAT observed in liver tissue of treated fishes in the first two weeks after exposure might be due to stress caused by exposure to phenolic effluent, since stress in general is known to elevate amino transferase activities to cope up with augmentation in energy demand. Decline in ALAT and ASAT activities from the 3^rd week onwards may be indicative of liver damage.