The Determination of effects of environmental pollutants on fish living in Sarıyar dam lake

The effects of environmental pollution on three commonly found fish species from different locations of Sanyar Dam lake were investigated during two years period. Carp (Cyprinus carpio), wels (Silurus glanis), and Capoeta tinea were the test organisms. These all fish species have different feeding habits. Hepatic lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), acid phosphatase (ACP), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities were determined as pollution related stress biomarkers. Also brain acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and carboxylesterase (CaE) activities were assayed. Enzymatic activities were determined with a microplate reader system. Enzyme activities for hepatic and brain tissues showed statistically significant difference in fish from different locations and also in samples taken at different seasons. These differences of enzyme activities may attributed to seasonal changes when the pollution level of the lake by different kinds of pollutants such as poh/chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polyaromatic hydrocarbones (PAHs), heavy metals and pesticides (both organophosphorus and carbamate) show variability since the level of these chemicals considerably changes in Sakarya River, discharging into the lake, from season to season. Hepatic LDH, AST and ALP and brain AChE activities were found to be as the most affected ones with environmental changes. Therefore, we could suppose that these enzymes are suitable biomarkers for ecotoxicological investigations. ^....«-«**W4jr.. * I. KEYWORDS: Environmental pollution, fish, ecotoxicology, enzyme, biomarker, biomonhoring. /' 11 Ç. <5i - ? c> e if