The widespread use of neonicotinoids has led to harmful effects on the environment and human health. Wide ranging application of manufactured pesticides in agriculture has resulted in contamination of soil ecosystems. Frogs are universal in aquatic habitats such as marshes, boundaries of water bodies and paddy fields. High occurrence of deformed frogs as well as decrease in body length, head length, limb size, growth rate and increase in liver weight are known from different frog species occurring in pesticide contaminated sites. The current study exemplifies that these sub-lethal yet environmentally considerable concentrations of imidacloprid has toxicological implications on Hoplobatrachus tigerinus. The validation of the study was to assess nucleic acids analysis in vital organs of Hoplobatrachus tigerinus exposed to Imidacloprid, after 24, 48, 96 h, 8, 15 and 30 days of exposure. The results obviously illustrate that exposure to sub-lethal concentration of imidacloprid 1/10th of 96 h LD50 was returned in tissue concentrations of pesticide with significant alterations in the nucleic acids. In the present study, the DNA and RNA contents decreased in all the tissues in response to Imidacloprid sub-lethal exposure at time periods of 24, 48, 96 h, 8, 15 and 30 days. Decrease in nucleic acids suggests the decrease in protein synthesis and damage to the liver is the major metabolic organ of drug detoxification. Hence, it is the accumulation of alteration in the DNA due to pesticides in the environment that seems to be a causative agent. We put forward detailed studies on food availability and consumption by frog in the paddy fields and urban wetlands to understand factors influencing the metabolic and growth patterns.
