Pathophysiological effects of vitamin C and common salt addition to fish water during experimental starvation in <i>Clarias gariepinus.</i>

Food deprivation could arise from either starvation or fasting, as a natural or management-induced process, which may have beneficial or detrimental effects necessitating attempts for amelioration. The present study evaluated the effects of vitamin C and common salt in fish water during a 21-day starvation period on morphometric, metabolic, oxidative stress, and cellular changes in the experimental Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822). Starvation induced significant (p<0.05) weight loss and decreased condition factor and hepatosomatic index that addition of either vitamin C or common salt did not significantly (p>0.05) ameliorate. Although the starvation induced some non-significant (p>0.05) metabolic changes and oxidative stress damages in the starved fish, vitamin C or common salt addition to the fish water during the period had no significant (p>0.05) effects. However, the addition of vitamin C and common salt to the fish water during the starvation period significantly (p<0.05) induced lipid peroxidation, which calls for further elucidations. The addition of vitamin C or common salt to fish during starvation had no significant (p>0.06) ameliorative effects on starvation-induced physiological, metabolic, and oxidative stress damage in the exposed Clarias gariepinus thereby necessitating further investigations, especially on the recorded prooxidative effects of vitamin C and common salt.