**5. Conclusions**

The results of the present study thus revealed that even the sublethal concentrations of Phorate and Dimethoate induced ultrastructural abnormalities in the kidney of the fish, *Cyprinus carpio communis* and TEM serves as a useful and effective tool for detecting the toxicity of any substance. From the discussion, it is quite evident that the changes or the ultrastructural abnormalities observed during the present study clearly revealed classical morphological changes which occur during apoptosis. Additionally, it was clear that these two widely used insecticides are highly toxic, as was supported by the present TEM study, as well as other previous reports on these two insecticides. Hence, the current study is a proof-of-principle that TEM can be used to examine the cellular impact of pesticide exposure. Since both Phorate and Dimethoate have deleterious effects on fish fauna, their indiscriminate use should be strictly prohibited through legislation.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, S.N. and M.N.A.; methodology, S.N.; software, validation, S.N., J.A.T., B.A.P., A.J., A.G. and M.N.A.; formal analysis, investigation, data curation, writing original draft preparation, S.N., J.A.T., I.A.B., S.M.P., B.A.P., A.J., A.G. and M.N.A.; writing—review and editing, S.N., J.A.T. and M.N.A.; visualization, supervision, S.N., J.A.T., S.M.P. and M.N.A. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** The research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** Not applicable.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors are highly thankful to TC Nag, Department of Anatomy, AIIMS, New Delhi and Sheikh Mansoor Advanced Centre for Human Genetics SKIMS Srinagar for valuable suggestions and guidance. The authors are also highly thankful to P.G. Department of Zoology, University of Kashmir and Centre of Research for Development, University of Kashmir for providing the laboratory facilities. The authors would like to extend their sincere appreciation to the Researchers Supporting Project Number (RSP-2021/144), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **References**

