Analysis of garden snail (Helix aspersa Muller) mucus for the presence of potential effectors of hemostasis system

Abstract

Today, there are many approaches to new drugs development, but none of them can replace the important role of natural products in the discovery and development of drugs. Natural raw materials remain an extremely important source of medicines. A number of biologically active molecules of natural origin have already found a direct medicinal use, while many others can serve as chemical models or templates for the design and synthesis of new pharmaceutical agents. Snail mucus has been attracting the attention of scientists for many years as a source of natural biologically active substances. The components of snail mucus have been repeatedly tested for antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activities. In this work, the biological effects of components of the mucus of the garden snail Helix aspersa, distributed in Ukraine, were studied. The research results proved the presence of protein molecules, some of which had a pronounced proteolytic potential with specificity for gelatin, collagen and fibrinogen. When mucus was added to blood plasma, its components initiated the formation of active thrombin, and also prolonged the clotting time of plasma in the coagulation test APTT. In addition, the components of H. aspersa mucus enhanced the effect of platelet aggregation inducer and inhibited their disaggregation. It was proved that the components of H. aspersa mucus had no cytotoxic effect. The obtained results indicate the prospects and importance of further experiments on the study of mucus protein fractions in order to identify individual biologically active molecules responsible for the manifestation of these effects. A detailed analysis of the composition and study of the properties of snail mucus will serve as a basis for obtaining potentially new substances with targeted activities and their further use in various industries, including pharmaceutical.