A green dye, named for its similarity in colour to the mineral malachite; there is no structural relationship. It is an example of a large class of dyes called triphenylmethanes on account of their structure.
Malachite green (also aniline green, basic green 4, diamond green B, or victoria green B, IUPAC name:4-[(4-dimethylaminophenyl)-phenyl-methyl]-N,N-dimethyl-aniline) is a toxic chemical primarily designed to be a dye and is subsequently used to treat parasites, fungal infections, and bacterial infections in fish and fish eggs.
Structures of Malachite green and related compounds
Source: http://chemistry.tidalswan.com
It is important to know the structures of compounds as they explain their chemical and biological properties, such as how well they might be absorbed in the body and how reactive they are. Malachite green is commonly know in a form called the Chromatic form in which it is a green dye. When it is inside the cell, it is then metabolized into a form called Leuco Malachite Green. This form is known by researchers to be toxic in addition to the fact that it is retained in the body for a longer period than the chromatic form of Malachite Green.
Chromatic form of Malachite green
Malachite green is used to dye materials like silk, leather, and paper. The chemical known as malachite green does not actually contain the mineral malachite — the name comes from the similarity of color.
Malachite green is also found to be especially active against the fungus Saprolegnia, which infects fish eggs in commercial aquaculture. The principle metabolite, leucomalachite green (LMG), is the main chemical found in fish treated with Malachite green. Lab tests revealed that rats fed malachite green at the concentration of 100ppb for longer than 2 years showed signs of tumours.
Malachite green is known to be highly toxic to certain freshwater fish such as tetras, catfish and shark catfish.
Malachite green is used as a biological stain for microscopic analysis of cell and tissue samples. Malachite green can also be used to directly stain spores within cells;
Malachite green can be used as a gain medium in dye lasers.
Malachite green can be used as a pH Indicator between pH 0.2 - 1.8, however this use is relatively rare.
Lecucomalachite green (LMG) is used as a detection method for latent blood in criminalistics. Hemoglobin catalyzes the reaction between LMG and hydrogen peroxide, converting the colorless LMG to the chromatic form of malachite green.
Toxicity of Malachite green
When malachite green is used in aquatic animals, it will be metabolized to Leuco-Malachite Green. It has been determined that the half lives of the retention of malachite green and leuco malachite green catfish muscle is 2.8 days.1
The study of the toxicity of malachite green in fish has been hard as it is heavily influenced by the hardness, pH, temperature and amount of dissolved oxygen in water. The effects of malachite green on fish eggs have also been tested and it has been shown that a two fold increase in the concentration of malachite green could lead up to 20 times the mortality rate in rainbow trout eggs! Overall, although malachite green is an extremely effective weapon against fungus and parasitic infections in fish, the chemical causes serious side effects in the fish as well.
Toxicity - effects on Humans
Malachite Green and its major metabolite, Leuco Malachite green has been reported to have mutagenic and carcinogenic effects.
Culp SJ in her recent article published in Mutation Research mentions that rats fed Malachite Green experience “a dose-related increase in liver DNA adducts” along with lung adenomas. As Leucomalachite green is the primary metabolite of malachite green and is retained in fish muscle much longer, most intake of malachite green would be in the leuco form. This shows that although adducts are formed, they have “little mutagenic or carcinogenic consequence.” Therefore it could be concluded that a Malachite Green caused carcinogenic symptoms but a direct link between Malachite Green and liver tumour could not be proved.
Method of mutagenic activity
Taken together, these data suggested that the N-demethylated metabolites of leucomalachite green and malachite green could undergo metabolic activation in a manner similar to that observed with carcinogenic aromatic amines, i.e. However, the adduct has not been characterized, since existing in vitro mutagenicity assays and metabolic activation systems has been unsuccessful in activating Leuco-Malachite Green or Malachite Green to DNA-damaging species (Culp and Blankenship, unpublished results). (1977) Research done on eggs and fry of large mouth bass, Micropterus salmonides.
Cases involving Malachite green detected in fish
An investigation by the Hong Kong Government Labs (Hong Kong Health Department) in 2005 revealed fresh water fish, crabs and other aquaculture products in China had small traces of this toxin. However, the concentration of malachite green found in seafood was extremely small, with the highest concentration in eels found to be 4,500 μg/kg and 900 μg/kg for freshwater fish. - Found general background information about toxicity of Malachite green and its uptake in Catfish. Information was extremely specific but effects of pH on malachite green was used in the "Detection" area of site.
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