A PhD thesis in the Department of Fish and Marine Resources - College of Agriculture - University of Basrah discussed the effect of Diclofenac on some genes and its role in causing phenotypic changes in the sailfish Poecilia latipinna (Lesueur, 1821).
The thesis of the student, Nasser Alwan Saleh, which was supervised by Prof. Hussein Abdel Saud and Prof. Dr. Sajid Saad Hassan: Detecting the effect of the drug on bones and cartilage and its effect on the regrowth and restoration of bone tissue in sail-fin molly fish, which is an ideal model for this type of studies because it has the ability to regrowth and regeneration of bone tissue.
Knowing the extent of the effect of diclofenac as one of the types of drugs used as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to relieve pain resulting from many pathological conditions on the growth and formation of bones and cartilage. There are many bony parts, where deformation occurred in the jaws, spine, fins, gill cover, and eyes, as well as the occurrence of hemorrhagic areas.
The researcher touched on some of the techniques used in detecting deformities using the full staining technique for bones and cartilage, alizarin, as well as a radiological examination with X-rays.
In addition to the effect of the drug on the activity of some genes related to bone and cartilage growth and formation, such as bmp1, col1a1, edaradd, nf-kb, and a decrease in the level of gene expression of target genes by examining the polymerase chain reaction in real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The drug had a negative effect on the level of gene expression, and it decreased clearly for all studied genes. The drug worked to block the eda/edaradd gene pathway, and thus all tissues derived from the ectoderm layer such as teeth, scales, fins, and pigment cells were affected.
