Sublethal Effects of Some New Textile Dyes On the Freshwater Snail Biomphalaria alexandrina, as a Biological Indicator

The Eco toxicological effects of three synthetic textile dyes; fast violet (FV), fast orange (FO) and fast yellow (FY) which mainly used in textile industry in Egypt, were tested on the freshwater snail Biomphalaria alexandrina, that used as a bio-indicator. The results demonstrated that only the FV dye is lethal and the 72 hr LC 50 is 500 ppm. The FO and dyes did not show any lethal effect on the snails at the concentrations used throughout the experiment time. The sublethal toxic concentration of non-irradiated FV dye (100 ppm) showed an increase in cellular and humoral defense responses of the snails exposed to the dye for 72 hr. Although the profile of the snail's nucleoproteins revealed minor qualitative differences; were quantitative differences differences reflected in the intensity of the separated bands, as well as, the percentage of the protein content. The protein content significantly decreased in the snails exposed to FV-dye when compared to FO,FY and non-exposed control snails