Effects of hypoxia and petroleum on the genotoxic and morphological parameters of Hippocampus reidi

Hypoxia events are common in many aquatic systems, which may be a natural event or provoked by anthropogenic actions, as well as accidents involving oil occurring throughout the world are frequent. Thus, through the possibility of occurrence of these two situations in same place the purpose of this study was to evaluate if damage caused by crude oil on genotoxic and morphological parameters in the marine fish species Hippocampus reidi will be aggravated by events of severe hypoxia. Sea horses were exposed during 8 h to the following conditions: crude oil (OIL), severe hypoxia (HYP), association of severe hypoxia and crude oil (HYP + OIL) and normoxia without contaminant (CONT). An increase in micronuclei observed in OIL and HYP + OIL groups indicates that the crude oil exposure was a determining factor in the micronuclei induction and hypoxia did not intensify this result. In comet assays, both petroleum and hypoxia provoke DNA damage. The most frequent histopathology in the control groups and in those exposed to OIL and HYP + OIL groups were: hypertrophy and capillary dilation; hypertrophy and hyperplasia; hypertrophy, epithelial “lifting” and epithelial hyperplasia. An elongation of the lamellae was observed in fish from the two groups exposed to hypoxia, probably due to the fact that these groups required a greater flow of blood in the gills to increase the efficiency of gas exchange, since they were in a hypoxic environment. In summary, the micronuclei test and comet assay can be used as a good biomarker of contamination by petroleum. The association of hypoxia with crude oil in some aspects may exacerbate the responses of fish, in the light of the increase in DNA damage and the alterations in thickness of the gill epithelium.