Effects of Coexposure with Echinostoma caproni and Schistosoma mansoni Miracidia on Glucose and Maltose Levels in Biomphalaria glabrata as Determined by High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography–Densitometry

Abstract

High-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC)–densitometry was used to determine maltose and glucose in Biomphalaria glabrata snails subjected to either Echinostoma caproni and Schistosoma mansoni miracidia coexposure or single exposure to each of these trematode parasites. Each culture contained 800 mL of artificial spring water; snails were maintained at 25 ± 1°C and fed boiled romaine lettuce ad libitum. A sample of each population was necropsied at 2, 4, and 6 weeks post-exposure to E. caproni. The whole body of each snail was extracted with 70% ethanol for sugar analysis. Sugars were separated on 10 × 20 cm EMD Millipore Corp. HPTLC silica gel plates with a preabsorbent zone, the mobile phase was 1-butanol–glacial acetic acid–diethyl ether–deionized water (27:18:5:3), and the detection reagent was naphthol–sulfuric acid. Quantitative densitometric analysis was performed using a CAMAG TLC Scanner 3 in the absorbance–reflectance mode at 515 nm. Significant differences in maltose concentrations were shown among the four groups at 2, 4, and 6 weeks post-exposure (analysis of variance, P < 0.0125). Significant differences in glucose were found only at 2 and 4 weeks post-exposure.