Dalila Naimi, Kouachi Meriem, Djadouri Jallal, Bendahra Ismahane
University Mentouri –Constantine, Laboratory of Genie Microbiologique et Applications, Molecular and Cellular Biology & Physiology Team, Higher National School of Biotechnology –Constantine – Algeria
Helix aspersa is a kind of terrestrial snail which consumed by human. In the last decade, many snail farms have been established in the world, on one hand to compensate for the decrease in natural population in certain countries and on the other hand in order to produce good quality snails for consumption.
Snail farming is a very lucrative agricultural activity given the fact that snail's meat provides high level quality of proteins. Also terrestrial Snails are an important source of microelements (salt, copper, iron, phosphor).
Deficiency of certain microelements can be responsible for an increased risk of many diseases, such as: cardiovascular diseases, several forms of cancer, immunodeficiency, allergies. Many studies confirmed in human nutrition, the potential quality of snails protein content, however its importance in Human therapeutics is poorly documented.
We have already explored in vitro the aqueous Helix aspersa extract effect on some signaling pathways in the tumor cells (expression of Bcl2).
In the present work we tried to explore in vivo the effect of Helix Aspersa crude extract (HACE) on the chemo-induced damages occurred in rat colon and also we investigated the impact of these damages on the lymphoid organs.
· In the first step, we proposed to evaluate the toxicity of HACE in mice:
Three mice groups (10 animals /group and 5 animals / cage) were respectively submitted to 120mg, 140mg and 160mg / body weight on alternate days during 15 days where we recorded the temperature, weight, and animal behavior. Very few changes have been observed and all animals survived.
With the concentration of 160 mg, animals showed the best gain weight and a slight increase in temperature just at the beginning of the experiment. The behavior of all animals stayed normal. Therefore, this concentration (5g/kg of body weight) was chosen for the rest of the experiences.
In the Second step, 30 males rats used in our experiment were divided in 5 groups (6animals/group) as following:
· Control group: C group, received orally distilled water during 7 days and transrectal administration of
distilled water on the 8th
· AA group (acetic acid group) received distilled water during 7 days and on the 8th day transrectal
administration of 1ml of 4% acetic acid
· HACE/AA group received the crude extract (5g/kg) during 7days and on the 8th transrectal
administration of 1ml of 4% acetic acid
· ASA group received 5-ASA (5-aminosalisylic acid) as standard drug during 7 days and on the 8th day
they received transrectal administration of 1ml of 4% acetic acid
· HACE group received the crude extract during 7 days and on the 8th rectal administration of 1ml of
distilled water
At the end of experiments and after 24H fasting, all the rats were anesthetized by ether inhalation. After that, animals were immediately dissected for harvesting organs and then sacrificed by overdose of ether.
Organs were washed three times with PBS. 10 cm from the distal colon were collected and examined macroscopically and microscopically after standard hematoxylin-eosin staining. The lymphoid organs (bone marrow, liver and thymus) were also examined in the aim to explore the repercussion of the colitis induction on the immune system.
Biochemical assessments including aspartat aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotarnsferase (ALT), gamma glutamyltarnsferase (GGT), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARs), CRP measurements were also registered.