Histopathological and Cellular Alterations in Digestive Glands/Tubules and Foot of Pila sp. to Speculate Environmental Pollution

AbstractSnail species are commonly used as bioindicators. Detailed information of the ecotoxic responses of a species is helpful for its conservation as well as environmental protection. Environmental pollutants like herbicides, pesticides, metals, others chemicals and genotoxic agents impose severe impacts on invertebrate cells. The freshwater snail P. globosa is very susceptible to organophosphates and various chemicals used as insecticides, pesticides, herbicides and pollutants. Live freshwater molluscs Pila sp. was manually collected from selected areas of Nadia district of West Bengal. The assessed parameters were cell morphology and histology of foot, digestive gland and intestine of Pila sp. The average number of pyknotic/necrotic cells of foot, digestive gland from the specimens collected from the sites associated with human effluents and agricultural fields was increased significantly. The histopathological alterations of digestive gland/tubules, intestine examined were disintegration of basement membrane, loss of epithelial cell lining in the samples collected from sites associated with human effluents and agricultural fields. The histopathological lesions in digestive glands/tubules, foot may result in the disturbances of overall metabolism and several related physiological processes. Keywords Bioindicators, Pollutants, Histopathological lesions