| Abstract: | Blooms of toxin-producing cyanobacteria have become increasingly common in the surface water of the world.In this study,we studied the dose-and time-dependent effects of a microcystin(MC) extract of cyanobacteria from Dianchi Lake in China on liver weight/body weight ratio and superoxide dismutase(SOD),lactate dehydrogenase(LDH) and glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px) activities in mouse liver.We found that exposure to the cyanobacterial extract(CE) resulted in increase in liver weight/body weight ratio in a dose-dependent manner,and the mouse liver reached the maximum size at 1 h post-exposure(pe).SOD activity in mouse liver decreased in a dose-dependent manner,and time course study indicated that it decreased significantly at 1 and 2 h pe,and resumed at 3 h pe as compared to control.CE caused LDH activity in the livers of mice to decrease in a dose-and time-dependent manner except a small increase in 30 min pe mice.GSH-Px activity increased in a dose-dependent manner,and was higher than that in the control over the 3 h observation period.The present findings suggest that oxidative damage may be involved in the toxicity of microcystins on mouse. |
