Chronic levels of ibuprofen induces haematoxic and histopathology damage in the gills, liver, and kidney of the African sharptooth catfish (Clarias gariepinus)

Numerous active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) have been detected in various environmental matrices. Thus, their potential to elicit their toxic effect on non-target organisms is a growing concern, especially in the aquatic environment. This study aimed to investigate the potential toxicity of ibuprofen (IBU) at environmentally relevant concentration on the haematology and histology of the gill, liver, and kidney over 30 days. The 96-h acute toxicity data showed that IBU was moderately toxic to C. gariepinus with an LC50 value of 3.78 mg/L. After 15 and 30 days of exposure, there was a significant alteration in haematological indices in the treated fishes when compared to the control group. Throughout the experimental duration, the level of the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) were consistently lower significantly, in contrast to the control group. IBU induced histopathological deformities in the gills, liver, and kidney of the exposed fishes, with alterations such as showing severe secondary lamella necrosis (SLN), epithelial lifting (EL), mild deformity of the secondary lamella (DSL), mild secondary lamella necrosis (MLN), and mild vascular congestion in the liver and kidney, respectively. This study has demonstrated that IBU at environmentally relevant concentrations can significantly impact the haematology, gills, liver, and kidney of C. gariepinus . This study’s results can provide baseline info for regulatory agencies to set safe limits for NSAIDs as a safeguard for the aquatic environment.