Journal of Clinical & Experimental Pharmacology

Antimicrobial activities of Cantareus (Helix) aspersa mucus

World Congress on Pharmacology

July 20-22, 2015 Brisbane, Australia

Nantawan Soonklang1, Praphaporn Stewart2, Michelle Pazmino3, Lewis Maynard3, David McMillan2, Steven Ogbourne3, Norman Cheetham2 and Michael J Stewart3

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: Clin Exp Pharmacol

Abstract:

Resistance to conventional antibiotics has become a serious medical and world health problem. Consequently, the development of novel antimicrobial agents that target multi resistant bacterial strains has become a pressing issue. Peptide antimicrobial agents from the natural world are exciting candidates as novel antibacterial agents due to them being hypoallergenic with a broad antimicrobial spectrum and highly selective toxicities. The land snail, Cantareus (Helix) aspersa has been used in medicine since antiquity for the treatment of dermatological disorders and appears to have effectiveness against a range of soil borne bacteria and papilloma viruses. However, the properties of snail mucus have never been characterised. This study seeks to obtain bioactive compounds (partially purified compounds) released from the foot muscle mucus using reverse phase high performance chromatography (RP-HPLC) and size exclusion chromatography (SEC) (i.e. C18 Sep pak and Ultrafuge 3kDa cutoff) and to test the activities of each compound against 4 strains of bacteria i.e. Straphylococcus aureus, Straphylococcus epidermidis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli at different time points and at different concentrations. The result shows that snails possess a cocktail of proteins that are secreted into mucus that are effective at inhibiting the growth of the skinborne pathogens, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. With the growing rise in drug resistant bacteria, it is hoped our studies can lead to the identification and deployment of new antibiotics.

Biography :

Nantawan Soonklang her degree in BNS Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Thailand and PhD from Mahidol University, Thailand. Her research interests are cell and molecular biology and Immunology. She has published many articles, also participated in national and international journals.