Impact of various salts on biology, physiology and tissue soluble proteins (SDS-PAGE) of Lymnaea natalensis and their infection with Fasciola gigantica miracidia.

The effect of sublethal concentrations of magnesium sulphate (MgSo4), sodium chloride (NaCl), potassium chloride (KCl), calcium sulphate (CaSo4) and sodium carbonate (Na2Co3) on survival, fecundity, Lymnaea natalensis infection with Fasciola gigantica miracidia and the activities of certain enzymes in tissue homogenate of these snails were evaluated. Tissue soluble proteins of the snails were analyzed by SDS-PAGE. The results indicated that Na2Co3 was more toxic to L. natalensis than the other salts. Egg laying capacity was declined after two weeks of continuous exposure to Na2Co3 (0.38 eggs/snail/week) compared to (13.85 eggs/snail/week) for controls. The lowest infection rate was among snails exposed to MgSo4 (31.25%) with a significant variation from controls (64.28%). The salts supperssed cercarial production of infected snails (14.6 metacercariae/ snail/stimulant) at MgSo4 compared to (59.3 metacercariae/ snail/stimulant) for controls. The maintenance of L. natalensis in the salts solutions for four successive weeks reduced the total protein content in their tissues (13.2 mg/g) at Na2Co3 (100 ppm) compared to (21.47 mg/g) for controls. The activity of alkaline phosphatase was significantly reduced in treated snails than controls. The electrophoretic data revealed a common band between controls and treated snails with a molecular weight of 79.42 to 80.55 kDa. There were bands in treated snails but not in controls (41.2 & 45 kDa). A band was detected for snails treated with each salt but not with controls or the other treated groups (28.68 kDa at NaCl, 100.75 kDa at CaSo4 & 205 Kda at KCl).