Investigating the effects of silver nanoparticles on the gills of Iranian sturgeon Acipenser persicus using HNMR

In present study, biochemical alterations and metabolite profile of Iranian sturgeon Acipenser persicus which were directly exposed to colloidal silver nanoparticles during different acute and chronic periods were investigated. A number of 480 pieces of sturgeon at releasing weight with mean total weight of 1.8±0.06 g were exposed to three different concentrations of 0.001, 0.005 and 0.01 mg/L of silver nanoparticles and the alterations of their gill metabolites were investigated in compare with the control treatment using HNMR. The comparison of 0.01 mg/L silver nanoparticles sampled on day 10 with other treatments showed that glycine and glutathione metabolites had the highest value with significant differences (P˂0.05). Acetylcholine had an ionic regulating role and the highest level was observed in freshwater control treatment. The amount of glycine, leucine and valine metabolites in freshwater treatment increased on day 10 compared with the other treatments. Overall, the results showed that glutathione acts as a biomarker and as a sensitive agent to the alterations of the amounts of silver nanoparticles in the gill tissue of Iranian sturgeon.