ASSESSMENT OF ACUTE TOXICITY OF CYPERMETHRIN AND ITS MITIGATION BY GREEN TEA EXTRACT IN FRESH WATER FISHES, CHANNA PUNCTATUS

Synthetic pyrethroids are used preferably due to high effectiveness and low toxicity to mammals but these are highly toxic to fishes. Green tea is the most popular beverage containing polyphenols and caffeine which are of considerable pharmacological significance. The protective effects of flavonoids have been attributed to a wide variety of mechanism by modulating enzyme activities resulting inhibitory effects of xenobiotics and drugs. The objective of this study was to determine the toxicity of cypermethrin alone and the protective effects of flavonoids on toxicity induced by pesticide. Two sets of experiments were performed. In first set acute toxicity bioassay of cypermethrin ( Anukill 25%EC) was carried out by two exploratory and one definitive test. LC50 values estimated by plotting a graph between % mortality and concentration of definitive test were 0.00087ml/l, 0.00079ml/l, 0.00065ml/l and 0.00050ml/l after 24, 48, 72 and 96 hr exposure respectively in fresh water teleosts, Channa Punctatus . Secondly, to examine the effect of green tea extract(GTE), 50 fishes were divided into 5 groups of ten fishes each. All the groups received 0.00087ml/l of Anukill whereas groups 2nd,3rd, 4th & 5th also received 10ml/l, 2ml/l, 1ml/l & 0.5ml/l GTE respectively. After 24 hrs the mortality rate reduced from 50% to 0% in group 1 st to 5th. The same scenario was obtained after treating the fishes by 96 hr LC50 concentration of Anukill along with 4 concentrations of GTE describe above. The results of present study revealed that GTE suppresses the effect of pesticides by improving oxidative damage. Key words: Green tea, xenobiotics, antioxidant.