assessment of biochemical and histopathological changes in the liver of chick embryo treated with a commercial deltamethrin formulation

we studied the hepatotoxic effects of a deltamethrin containing formulation (decis®) on developing em-bryo of gallus domesticus. fertilized eggs were immersed in three different concentrations of deltamethrin (12.5, 25 and 50 mg/l) for 60 min at 37 ˚c prior to incubation (ed 0) and on the 4th day of incubation (ed 4) and incubated till embryonic day (ed) 16. exposure to 50 mg/l of deltamethrin resulted in a significant decrease in total protein and total glycogen content in the liver when exposed on ed 4 and ed 0 respec-tively, while total glutathione content was reduced at concentrations applied on both the exposure days. among enzymes, liver alkaline phosphatase activity was significantly increased at 25 and 50 mg/l deltame-thrin when embryos were exposed on ed 0 and 4, whereas the glutamate pyruvate transaminase activity showed a marked increase in animals exposed to 50 mg/l deltamethrin only at ed 4. histophathological evaluation revealed mild to marked cellular lesions in liver sections of insecticide treated embryo. the magnitude of most of these changes appeared to be dose dependent being more severe on exposure to high-est dose of deltamethrin. the observed pathological changes include degeneration and necrosis of hepato-cytes, cytoplasmic vacuolization, enlarged and congested sinusoidal spaces, leucocyte infiltrations and con-gestion and dilation of the central vein.