Effect of mefloquine on biological and biochemical aspects of Lymnaea natalensis snails infected with Fasciola gigantica

Abstract Background The effect of the mefloquine drug on the survival rate, egg production, and infection of snails with Fasciola gigantica was studied. Also, the present study was designed to investigate the response of the snail Lymnaea natalensis for physiological and molecular aspects of the snail after exposure to mefloquine for 2 weeks. Results It was found that the exposure of Lymnaea natalensis snails to mefloquine drug led to a significant reduction in the survival rate and egg production. The results obtained also showed that infectivity of Lymnaea natalensis with Fasciola gigantica miracidia was greatly reduced by exposure to LC25 of mefloquine drug. The data showed that in treating snails, glucose concentration (GL) in the haemolymph as well as lactate (LT) in soft tissues of treated snails increased, while glycogen (GN), pyruvate (PV), total protein (TP), and nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) levels in snail’s tissues decreased. In addition, the activity level of some enzymes representing glycolytic enzymes as hexokinase (HK), pyruvate kinase (PK), phosphofructokinase (PFK), lactate dehydrogenase(LDH), and glucose phosphate isomerase (GPI) was also significantly reduced in response to treatment. Conclusion DNA changes were studied by comet assay and the overall results revealed that mefloquine drug has genotoxic effect.