Remedial effects of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) from Arthrospira platensis against Di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) toxicity on gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata).

Abstract

Di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) is an organic compound of phthalate, commonly used in the production of various plastic materials and its detrimental effects on marine ecosystems and human health have a great concern. Bioactive compounds derived from microalgae have numerous biological and pharmacological activities and their remedial role in alleviating the adverse effects of toxicity induced by environmental and other agents has also been reported. Thus, in this work, we carried out studies to ascertain if exopolysaccharides (EPS) extracted from Arthrospira platensis (Cyanobacteria) would ameliorate DBP-induced toxicity in gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata), used as model organism, focusing on growth performance, oxidative stress, neurotoxicity, histopathological changes in liver and intestine, and muscle nutritional quality. Firstly, fish in triplicate were fed separately a supplemented diet with 0 % (control group) and 6 % of EPS (EPS group) for 21 days. Consequently, each group were intraperitoneally exposed to DBP at a concentration of 85 μg /kg body weight. The results showed that DBP impaired growth, induced antioxidant-oxidative stress imbalance and caused genotoxicity and liver and intestine damage. Also, DBP disrupted muscle proximate composition and fatty acid profiles. Interestingly, feeding the DBP-exposed fish with EPS partially restored, histopathological damage in liver and intestine, antioxidant markers, lipid balance, notably improving the ω3/ω6 ratio, likely through EPS's antioxidant and metabolic regulatory effects. Overall, this study offered further insights on the antioxidative and chemopreventive properties of exopolysaccharides (EPS) extracted from Arthrospira platensis to modulate fish health and to enhance growth and protect against DBP-induced toxicity.