The genotoxicity of copper, zinc and their binary mixture was examined in Synodontis clarias and Tilapia nilotica using the sensitive micronucleus assay in fish genome. Increased formation of the micronuclei were observed in all the three concentrations studied (0.25LC 50 , 0.125LC 50 and 0.0625LC 50). The frequency of micronuclei was observed to increase heavily (p<0.05) when the fish species were exposed to binary mixture of the heavy metals. Individual metal (Cu and Zn), acting alone, produced significant (p<0.05) levels of micronucleated erythrocytes in both species. After 96-hour recovery in clean water of the fish species exposed to the binary mixture of the heavy metals, the levels of micronuclei in Tilapia nilotica decreased (p<0.05) while the levels in Synodontis clarias displayed no meaningful decrease (p>0.05) at the highest and lowest concentrations studied. Synodontis clarias was numerically observed to exhibit higher incidence of micronuclei in the sampled blood than Tilapia nilotica.@ JASEM
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.