Biochemical evaluation of aestivation and starvation in two snail species
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Date
2010-11-08
Authors
Akande, I.S
Odetola, A.A
Samuel, T.A
Okolie, P.N
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Academic Journals
Abstract
There is resurgence in incidence of schistosomiasis in Nigeria with attendant socio-economic and
health impact. The agents transmitting this disease are the Bulinus snails which employ aestivation to
survive conditions of unfavourable weather such as lack of food and water. The mechanism of
aestivation under aridity and drought is not clear. This study therefore investigated the effects of
aestivation and starvation on endogenous metabolic reserves in haemolymph of two snail species
namely: Bulinus globosus (Morelet) and Bulinus rohlfsi (Clessin). Aestivation, starvation and control
experiments were set up for 30 days in the laboratory by placing three groups of snails collected from
Oyan dam, Abeokuta in standard aestivation slope (30 B. globosus and 19 B. rohlfsi), aquarium (30 B.
globosus and 23 B. rohlfsi) and control slope which had 20 B. globosus and 15 B. rohlfsi. Aestivation
and control slopes contained water and mixture of sand and clay (3:1), while aquarium contained water
only for starvation. All the snails were fed on lettuce ad libitum for 28 days during which water was
completely drained out in the aestivation slope. The aestivation slope and aquarium were left for
another 30 days without lettuce. Snails were thereafter sacrificed and haemolymph biochemical
parameters were assayed. In aestivating and starving B. globosus, haemolymph creatinine, urea, total
protein, glucose, alanine transferases (ALT) and aspartate transferases (AST) were significantly
decreased, while haemolymph total cholesterol, triglyceride and α-amylase concentrations and activity
increased significantly (p < 0.05). In B. rohlfsi, creatinine, urea, ALT and AST were significantly
decreased when compared with controls (p < 0.05). B. globosus and B. rohlfsi possess ability to
survive unfavourable conditions by economical utilization of stored metabolites, thus enabling them to
carry infection from one season to the next. Our findings suggest that B. globosus is a better aestivator
than B. rohlfsi.
Description
Keywords
Research Subject Categories::NATURAL SCIENCES::Chemistry::Biochemistry , Aestivation , enzymes , Bulinus globosus , Bulinus rohlfsi , schistosomiasis
Citation
Akande, Idowu. (2010). Biochemical evaluation of aestivation and starvation in two snail species. African Journal of Biotechnology. 9. 7718-7723.