Effect of silver nanoparticles on olfactory feeding behavior of Acipenser persicus

Olfaction is one of the fundamental senses to detect odors from long distances in sturgeons, and it plays an important role in feeding behavior and orientation fish. This sense can be a reliable criteria to investigate the effect of pollutants on aquatic organisms. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to evaluate effects of silver nanoparticles on olfactory feeding behavior of Persian sturgeon. This behavior was investigated following exposure to 0.01, 0.005 and 0.001 mg L-1 AgNPs for 7 days (each group with 3 replicates) and 6 amino acids were used to evaluate the olfactory behavior. During the course of the experiment, solution containing amino acids was introduced into the aquarium for 3 min. Then the number of fish and their behavior was counted every30 sec after the start of each trial. The results showed that the concentration of 0.01 mg L-1 AgNPs significantly reduced the olfactory attractiveness of alanine, glycine and leucine amino acids. Also, olfactory behavior responses were significantly reduced only at a concentration of 0.01 mg / L. but responses to the repellant amino acids (tyrosine, aspartic acid and glutamic acid) were not significantly different in none of the concentrations of silver nanoparticles.