Helix and Drugs: Snails for Western Health Care From Antiquity to the Present

Bonnemain, Bruno

doi:10.1093/ecam/neh057

Cited by 72 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The brown garden snail, Helix aspersa has been used in human medicine since antiquity: Hippocrates recommended snail mucus for the treatment of protocoele whilst Pliny stated that snail preparations could be employed in everything from childbirth to nosebleeds 18 . Recently, anecdotal reports of generic skin regeneration properties of the mucous from H. aspersa have been explored 19 ; this has resulted in the commercial production of a topical preparation 20 which is claimed to have "wound healing" as well as anti-ageing properties.…”

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confidence: 99%

Antimicrobial properties of mucus from the brown garden snail Helix aspersa

Pitt

Graham²,

Dedi

et al. 2015

British Journal of Biomedical Science

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Research into naturally occurring antimicrobial substances has yielded effective treatments. One area of interest is peptides and proteins produced by invertebrates as part of their defence system, including the contents of mollusc mucous. Mucous produced by the African giant land snail, Achatina fulica has been reported to contain two proteins with broad spectrum anti-bacterial activity. Mucous from the brown garden snail, Helix aspersa appears to have skin regenerationproperties. This study sought to investigate the antimicrobial properties of H.aspersa mucous.Mucous was collected from H.aspersa snails, diluted in PBS and centrifuged, with the supernatant tested against a wide range of organisms in a disc diffusion antimicrobial assay. This was followed up with comparative experiments involving A.fulica , including bacteriophage assays. Mucous from both species of snail was passed through a series of protein size separation columns in order to determine the approximate size of the antimicrobial substance. Electrophoresis was also carried out on the H.aspersa mucous.Results indicated that H.aspersa mucous had a strong antibacterial effect against several strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and a weak effect against Staphylococcus aureus. Mucous from A.fulica also inhibited the growth of S.aureus, but the broad spectrum of activity reported by other workers was not observed. Antimicrobial activity was not caused by bacteriophage. Size separation experiments indicated that the antimicrobial substance(s) in H.aspersa were between 30 and 100 kDa. Electrophoresis revealed two proteins in this region -30-40 kDa and 50-60kDa. These do not correspond with antimicrobial proteins previously reported in A.fulica. This study found one or more novel antimicrobial agents in H.aspersa mucous, with a strong effect against P.aeruginosa . 2

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confidence: 99%

Antimicrobial properties of mucus from the brown garden snail Helix aspersa

Pitt

Graham²,

Dedi

et al. 2015

British Journal of Biomedical Science

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“…The venoms of these snails contain a cocktail of up to 200 pharmacologically active components that mainly target different voltage-and ligand-gated ion channels (Becker and Terlau 2008). The first description of snails as medication was during the Roman Empire when it was used in the mental illness, syncope, vertigo, and infectious diseases (Bonnemain 2005). In the eighteenth century, American investigators have assessed hundreds of neurotoxins derived from sea snails which are utilized by snail to immobilize their prey and induce a neuromuscular blockage.…”

Section: Snailmentioning

confidence: 99%

Helminthes and insects: maladies or therapies

El-Tantawy

2014

Parasitol Res

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By definition, parasites cause harm to their hosts. But, considerable evidence from ancient traditional medicine has supported the theory of using parasites and their products in treating many diseases. Maggots have been used successfully to treat chronic, long-standing, infected wounds which failed to respond to conventional treatment by many beneficial effects on the wound including debridement, disinfection, and healing enhancement. Maggots are also applied in forensic medicine to estimate time between the death and discovery of a corpse and in entomotoxicology involving the potential use of insects as alternative samples for detecting drugs and toxins in death investigations. Leeches are segmented invertebrates, famous by their blood-feeding habits and used in phlebotomy to treat various ailments since ancient times. Leech therapy is experiencing resurgence nowadays in health care principally in plastic and reconstructive surgery. Earthworms provide a source of medicinally useful products with potential antimicrobial, antiviral, and anticancer properties. Lumbrokinases are a group of fibrinolytic enzymes isolated and purified from earthworms capable of degrading plasminogen-rich and plasminogen-free fibrin and so can be used to treat various conditions associated with thrombotic diseases. Helminth infection has been proved to have therapeutic effects in both animal and human clinical trials with promising evidence in treating many allergic diseases and can block the induction of or reduce the severity of some autoimmune disorders as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. What is more, venomous arthropods such as scorpions, bees, wasps, spiders, ants, centipedes, snail, beetles, and caterpillars. The venoms and toxins from these arthropods provide a promising source of natural bioactive compounds which can be employed in the development of new drugs to treat diseases as cancer. The possibility of using these active molecules in biotechnological processes can make these venoms and toxins a valuable and promising source of natural bioactive compounds. The therapeutic use of helminthes and insects will be of great value in biomedicine and further studies on insect toxins will contribute extensively to the development of Biomedical Sciences.

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“…[5] Nowadays, lectins from snails are used as a marker for metastatic tissues in breast and colon cancers. [67]…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Helix aspersa extract on TNFα, NF-κB and some tumor suppressor genes in breast cancer cell line Hs578T

Ouar

Braicu²,

Naïmi

et al. 2017

Phcog Mag

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Background:The garden snail, Helix aspersa, is a big land snail widely found in the Mediterranean countries. It is one of the most consumed species and widely used in zootherapy.Objective:The present study was carried out to investigate for the first time the first time the antitumor activity of an aqueous extract from Helix aspersa.Materials and Methods:The effect of H. aspersa extract was studied on a triple negative breast cancer cell line Hs578T. Firstly, the morphological changes and the mode of cell death induced by the extract have been evaluated by microscopy and acridine orange/ethidium bromide staining. The effect of the extract at dilution 0.1% and 1% was then tested on some genes, regulators of cell death and proliferation like tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα), NF- κB, and the tumor suppressor genes P53 and PTEN.Results:Data demonstrate that the extract induces necrosis in tumor cells. It enhances significantly the expression of TNFα; mRNA levels were 20 and 10 times more important in treated cells compared to nontreated cells. NF-κB and PTEN were inhibited with the dilution 1% after 8 and 24 hours of treatment. P53 expression was further inhibited but only with the highest dose, after 4, 8, and 24 hours.Conclusion:Our results show that H. aspersa extract has an antitumor activity against Hs578T cells; it is a potent stimulator for TNFα and a good inhibitor for NF-κB.Abbreviations used: AO: acridine orange; Bcl-2: B cell lymphoma 2. cDNA: complementary DNA; ELISA: enzyme linked immunosorbent assay; EB: ethidium bromide; IC50: the half maximal inhibitory concentration; mRNA: messenger RNA. MAPK: mitogen-activated protein kinase; NF-κB: nuclearfactorkappa B; PBS: phosphate buffered saline. PI3K: phospho-inositol 3 kinase; PTEN: phosphatase and tensin homolog; ROS: reactive oxygen species. RT-PCR: reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction; TNFα: tumor necrosis factor alpha. TNFR1: TNF receptor-1; TP53: tumor protein 53

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Helix and Drugs: Snails for Western Health Care From Antiquity to the Present

Cited by 72 publications

References 5 publications

Antimicrobial properties of mucus from the brown garden snail Helix aspersa

Antimicrobial properties of mucus from the brown garden snail Helix aspersa

Helminthes and insects: maladies or therapies

Effect of Helix aspersa extract on TNFα, NF-κB and some tumor suppressor genes in breast cancer cell line Hs578T

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