Effect of environmental acidification on hepatic tissue A1AT kinetics of fish during acclimation

Abstract

Fresh water fish, Tilapia mossambica (Peters) were subjected to acclimation to
sublethal acidic (pH 4.0) water and its impact on the hepatic tissue Alanine Amino
Transferase (A1AT) activitiy was studied. The studies on substrate dependency
of the enzyme showed significant increase in the activity levels of the enzyme in
acclimated animals over the controls at all the substrate concentrations. The
maximum per cent increase after acclimation was 25 p moles of substrate
concentration. The pH dependency analysis recorded significant elevation in the
activity level of the enzyme in acclimated tissues over the control at all the pH
values studied. The temperaSHre dependency studies revealed maximum activity
of the enzyme in control tissue at 30°C, whereas it was 40°C in experimental. It
can be concluded that the process of acclimation to acidic environment induces
adaptive mechanisms as a compensatory measure into enzymatic activities as
evidenced by the activity of A1AT which in turn provides resistance to fish leading
to successfull survival in extreme acidic waters