Aggregation of hepatic melanomacrophage centers in S. herzbergii (Pisces, Ariidae) as indicators of environmental change and well-being

Abstract

The melanomacrophage centers (MMCs) in the liver of fish are indicators of environmental conditions, as they are involved in xenobiotic biotransformation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the number of MMC in the liver of juveniles and adults of Sciades herzbergii from areas with different levels of contamination. The fish were caught at three points (reference - A1, potentially impacted - A2 and contaminated - A3), in São José bay (Maranhão, Brazil), in four samples. The livers were subjected to the standard histological procedure and 5μm sections were stained with hematoxylin-eosin. In livers of A2 adult individuals (260.50±161.50 MMCs / mm²) they presented a greater number of MMCs when compared to A3 adults (60.00 ± 30.10 MMCs / mm²). Juveniles showed considerable values in A1 (100.00 ± 0.00 MMCs/mm²) and A2 (95.33 ± 33.00 MMCs / mm²) compared to juveniles in A3 (49.00±0.00 MMCs/mm²). These high values are unexpected for young people. The average number of MMC correlated with the rainy season in the region. The use of hepatic MMCs as a biomarker of exposure to pollutants, in particular substances from fisheries systems, such as ammonia and nitrite, proved to be adequate to differentiate areas with different levels of impacts.

Combined use of biomarkers to assess the impact of untreated wastewater from the Danube River, Serbia

“…Nevertheless, many functions of the liver, such as bile secretion, glucose and energy metabolism, cell proliferation, and apoptosis are regulated by the increased Ca 2+ concentrations (Amaya and Nathanson 2013). Furthermore, significantly higher concentrations of Fe and amounts of ceroid pigments in the liver of vimba bream could be related to their mutual existence in MMC (Viana et al 2021). It is interesting to note that both species had Cu concentrations below 50 µg/g, which is in agreement with Cu homeostatic control mechanisms (Pyle et al 2005).…”

Histological and Chemical Analysis of Heavy Metals in Kidney and Gills of Boops boops: Melanomacrophages Centers and Rodlet Cells as Environmental Biomarkers

“…They are located in the liver, kidney, and pancreas and are involved in xenobiotic biotransformation. They contain different pigments such as melanin, hemosiderin, and lipofuscin [ 29 ]. The number, size, and distribution of MMCs vary with species, organ, age, nutritional status, and physical and environmental stress situations [ 30 , 31 ].…”

Melanomacrophage Centers: Comparative Histological Insights among Three Reptilian Species

“…Reptiles are classified as amniotes, along with birds and mammals (Akiyoshi and Inoue, 2012), and they are classified into four orders: Crocodilia (alligators and crocodiles), Chelonia (tortoises and 2017) and fishes (Sales et al, 2017). In fishes, MMCs are occasionally located in the thymus, intestinal submucosa, gills, brain, and gonads (Basilone et al, 2018;Stosik et al, 2019;Dang et al, 2021, Viana et al, 2021. MMCs are involved in the detoxification, recycling, and elimination of both endogenous and external elements, including cell debris and dead cells.…”

“…Additionally, MMCs have been applied as biomarkers to evaluate the health of fish and the contamination of the aquatic environment. MMCs have been considered metabolic dumps that contain both endogenous and exogenous materials including antigens, and biomarkers for exposure to various anthropogenic stressors (Qualhato et al, 2018;Dang et al, 2021;Viana et al, 2021).…”

“…Depending on the visceral cavity, the reptilian liver can adopt a range of morphologies. While it is thicker and more compact in numerous reptile species, it is lengthy and thin in several lizard and snake species (Nafady and Awadalla, 2019).Melanomacrophage centers (MMCs) are unique aggregations of macrophage-like cells, which are fragments derived from phagocytosed cells that were mostly composed of erythrocytes and pigments including melanin, hemosiderin, and lipofuscin (Dang et al, 2021;Viana et al, 2021). MMCs are found mainly in the reticuloendothelial tissue of haemolymphopoietic organs including the liver, kidney, spleen and pancreas of different non-mammalian vertebrates like reptiles (Domiciano et al, 2017), amphibians (Wu et al,…”