Fish scale deformation analysis using Scanning Electron Microscope: New potential biomarker in aquatic environmental monitoring of aluminum and iron contamination

Dewi Hidayati, Norela Sulaiman, Shuhaimi Othman, B. S. Ismail

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Fish scale has the potential to be a rapid biomarker due to its structure and high possibility to come into contact with any pollutant in the aquatic environment. The scale structure consists of osteoblastic cells and other bone materials such as collagen where it is possible to form a molecular complex with heavy metals such as aluminum and iron. Hence, aluminum and iron in water could possibly destroy the scale material and marked as a scale deformation that quantitatively could be analyzed by comparing it to the normal scale structure. Water sampling and fish cage experiment were performed between June and July 2011 in Porong river which represented the water body that has high aluminum and iron contamination. The filtered water samples were preserved and extracted using the acid-mixture procedure prior to measurement of the aluminum and iron concentrations using Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES), while samples for total suspended solid (TSS) analysis were kept at 4 °C in cool-boxes. The scales were cleaned with sterile water, then dehydrated in 30, 50, 70, and 90% ethanol and dried on filter papers. They were then mounted on an aluminum stub and coated with gold in a sputter coater prior to Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) observation. According to the SEM analysis, it was found that there were several deformations on the scale samples taken from sites that have high concentrations of aluminum and iron i.e. the increasing number of pits, deformation and decreasing number of spherules and ridges while the control scale exhibited the normal features. However, the site with higher TSS and pH indicated lower aluminum effect. A moderate correlation was found between the number of pits with aluminum (r=0.43) and iron (r=0.41) concentrations. Fish scale deformation using SEM analysis can potentially be a rapid biomarker in aquatic monitoring of aluminum and iron contamination. However, the measurement must be accompanied by pH and TSS observations.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2013 UKM FST Postgraduate Colloquium - Proceedings of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Faculty of Science and Technology 2013 Postgraduate Colloquium
Pages563-568
Number of pages6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013
Externally publishedYes
Event2013 UKM Faculty of Science and Technology Post-Graduate Colloquium - Selangor, Malaysia
Duration: 3 Jul 20134 Jul 2013

Publication series

NameAIP Conference Proceedings
Volume1571
ISSN (Print)0094-243X
ISSN (Electronic)1551-7616

Conference

Conference2013 UKM Faculty of Science and Technology Post-Graduate Colloquium
Country/TerritoryMalaysia
CitySelangor
Period3/07/134/07/13

Keywords

  • Aluminum
  • Biomarker
  • Fish scale
  • Iron
  • SEM

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