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Lipid profiling and toxico-pathological assessment of the subacute oral administration of the slime extract of Archachatina marginata in rats

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Abstract

Purpose

Snail slime is essential in traditional and folkloric medicine, but empirical data on its toxicity is limited. Therefore, the present study assessed rats’ toxicopathology and lipid profile after oral sub-acute exposure to Archachatina marginata slime extracts.

Method

The rats were assigned into five (5) groups (n = 10) and treated for 28 days with distilled water and slime extract (125, 250, and 500 mg/kg bw). In addition, a follow-up group received the snail slime at 500 mg/kg bw and was observed post-administration for 14 days. After the treatment period, the rats were sacrificed, and the blood and vital organs were harvested for biochemical analyses which includes lipid profile, liver and kidney function, oxidative stress indices, and histopathology.

Results

The results revealed that the slime of A. marginata did not remarkably affect the liver and kidney function indices and Castelli’s Risk Index II (CRI-II) was < 3.0 across all groups. However, histopathology showed hepatocellular damage in the female rats, which resolved following the cessation of treatment. Furthermore, there were cellular changes, including mild inflammation and cellular degeneration of rat tissues across the treatment groups.

Conclusion

The findings warrant further safety assessments to bolster the medicinal properties of A. marginata slime.

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Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors’ appreciation goes to Landmark University, Nigeria.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SDG 03 Group – Good Health and Well-being, Landmark University, Omu-Aran, 251101, Kwara State, Nigeria

    Morayo Elizabeth Barnabas, Damilare Emmanuel Rotimi, Tobiloba Christiana Elebiyo, Oluwakemi Josephine Awakan & Oluyomi Stephen Adeyemi

  2. Department of Biochemistry, Medicinal Biochemistry, Nanomedicine and Toxicology Laboratory, Landmark University, PMB 1001, Omu-Aran, 251101, Nigeria

    Morayo Elizabeth Barnabas, Damilare Emmanuel Rotimi, Tobiloba Christiana Elebiyo, Oluwakemi Josephine Awakan & Oluyomi Stephen Adeyemi

  3. Department of Animal Science, College of Agricultural Sciences, Landmark University, PMB 1001, Omu-Aran, 251101, Nigeria

    Funmilayo Abimbola Okeniyi

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Contributions

For research articles with several authors, a short paragraph specifying their individual contributions must be provided. The following statements should be used “Conceptualization, OSA, MEB and OJA; methodology, MEB, OSA; software, DER and TCB; validation, OSA and FAO; formal analysis, MEB, OSA and OJA; investigation, MEB; resources, MEB, OJA, OSA and FAO; data curation, DER, TCB and MEB; writing—original draft preparation, MEB, DER, OSA; writing—review and editing, OJA; visualization, OSA; supervision, OSA and OJA; project administration, OSA; funding acquisition, MEB. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.”

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Oluyomi Stephen Adeyemi.

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Conflict of interest

Morayo Elizabeth Barnabas, Damilare Emmanuel Rotimi, Tobiloba Christiana Elebiyo, Funmilayo Abimbola Okeniyi, Oluwakemi Josephine Awakan, and Oluyomi Stephen Adeyemi declare that we have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The care, use, and treatment of the rats were carried out as described and approved by the Landmark University Ethical Committee. The ethical approval code is LUAC/BCH/2022/004A.

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Barnabas, M.E., Rotimi, D.E., Elebiyo, T.C. et al. Lipid profiling and toxico-pathological assessment of the subacute oral administration of the slime extract of Archachatina marginata in rats. Toxicol. Environ. Health Sci. 15, 127–143 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13530-022-00166-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13530-022-00166-1

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