Effect of microplastic particles on the gills structure of freshwater fish supplemented with probiotics and vitamin C

Abstract This study aims to determine the effectiveness of commercial feed with probioticand vitamin C supplements in repairing damage to the gill structure of freshwater fish, tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus ). Tilapia in this study were divided into control group (commercial feed), probiotic group (commercial feed with probiotic 200 mg/kg of feed), and vitamin C group (commercial feed with vitamin C 100 mg/kg of feed). Each group was givenmicroplastic particles exposure treatment in aqueous media (0, 0.1, 1, 10 mg/L volume of aquarium water) which was carried out twice a day for 14 days. The results showed that the administration of vitamin C as fish feed supplement reduced the damage that occurred in the tilapia gills in the form of edema (22 ± 3.57%), necrosis (33 ± 4.07%), hyperplasia (38 ± 5.91%), epithelial lifting (28 ± 3.43%), and fusion (17 ± 3.49%) of the secondary lamellae. Meanwhile, the administration of probiotics only reduced the histopathological conditions of necrosis (34 ± 4.57%) and fusion (18 ± 3.07%) of secondary lamellae. From all treatments, it was shown that feeding with vitamin C was the most effective in improving the histopathological condition that occurred in the histological structure of tilapia gills.