impact of mercury on liver and ovary of yellowfin sea bream (acanthopagrus latus) in the persian gulf

this study reports the incidence of histological alterations in morphometric changes in the liver and ovary of acanthopagrus latus collected from an urban stream impaired by anthropogenic activities and from a clean site (reference). mercury concentration was determined using a standard cold vapor atomic absorption. the results showed that mercury concentration at the creek waters, and specially sediments along mahshahr coast, was higher than in the other marine environment, and in zangi was lower than in the other sites of sampling. several liver lesions were identified, including enlarged and lateral nuclei, nuclear degeneration and vacuolation, oncotic, apoptic, focal, massive, centrilobular and periportal  necrosis, atrophy, lipidosis, hydropic and cloudy swelling, oval cell proliferation, cirrhosis, hemorrhage, macrophage aggregates, bile stagnation, dilation of sinusoid, intracellular edema, and dark granules. ovary histology revealed some changes in higher concentrations such as increase in the number of pre-vitellogenic oocytes, oocyte atresia, and adhesion in the ovaries of females that were sampled from the sites with high concentration of mercury. in this study, existence of mercury in mahshahr coast is demonstrated and high incidence of histological alterations in the liver and ovary of a. latus is an evidence of the poor environmental quality of creek waters. hence, histopathological changes were induced by the mercury adversely affected the proper functioning of these organs in these fish.