An ultrastructural change in the fat body of Desert Locust Schistocerca gregaria (Orthoptera: Acrididae) treated with zinc chromium oxide nanostructures via facile chemical coprecipitation

Abstract Background The present work aims to investigate the ultrastructural changes in the fat body of fifth nymphal instars Schistocerca gregaria (Orthoptera: Acrididae) treated with zinc chromium oxide (ZnCrO). Methodology: The nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared by a coprecipitation approach. X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were employed to investigate the structural, composition, and morphological properties. Results and discussion The ZnCrO NPs exhibited a hexagonal polycrystalline structure. SEM and TEM micrographs described the surface nature of the nanoparticles composed of spherical and hexagonal shapes with an average size of ~25 nm. The energy gap (Eg)of the Cr-doped ZnO thin film was estimated from the transmittance and reflectance spectra to be 3.307 and 3.840 eV. In biological sections, TEM images demonstrated that the fat body strongly impacted with the concentrations 2mg of the treated nanoparticles caused great agglomerated chromatin in the nucleus as well as haemoglobin cells (HGCs) pierced with malformed trachea. In addition, the same effect was observed at 1mg on the 7th day post treatment Conclusion The results indicate a positive impact of ZnCrO on Schistocerca gregaria leads to malformed of fat body organelles.