Effects of crowding on free sterols and other neutral lipids in Biomphalaria glabrata infected with Schistosoma mansoni as determined by high-performance thin-layer chromatography-densitometry

High performance thin-layer chromatography-densitometry was used to characterize and quantify free sterols and other lipids in Biomphalaria glabrata snails infected with Schistosoma mansoni and subjected to crowding. Observations were made on a non-crowded population (15 snails per culture) and a crowded population (50 snails per culture) of infected snails. Each culture contained 800 mL of artificial spring water, and snails were maintained at 25±1°C and fed romaine lettuce ad libitum. After 4 weeks of culture, the infected snails were necropsied, and the digestive-gland gonad complex (DGG) of each snail was extracted in chloroform-methanol. Lipids were separated on 10×20 cm Analtech channeled HPTLC-HLF silica gel glass plates with a preadsorbent zone. The mobile phase petroleum ether-diethyl ether-glacial acetic acid (80:20:1) and 5% ethanolic phosphomolybdic acid detection reagent were used to analyze lipids in the DGG of each snail. Quantitative densitometric analysis was performed using a CAMAG TLC Scanner 3 with the tungsten light source set at 610 nm for neutral lipids. Free sterols and free fatty acids were the major lipids found in both crowded and non-crowded infected snails. Significant differences (ANOVA, P<0.05) were found in the free sterol fraction of the above described snail populations. Our findings indicated that snail crowding as described in our experiment caused a significant decrease in the free sterol content of the DGG of infected B. glabrata.

Title	Effects of crowding on free sterols and other neutral lipids in Biomphalaria glabrata infected with Schistosoma mansoni as determined by high-performance thin-layer chromatography-densitometry
Creator	Fried, Bernard
	Dieterich, N.
	Sherma, Joseph
Publisher	Current Topics in Steroid Research
Academic Department	Biology
Academic Department	Chemistry
Division	Natural Sciences
Organization	Lafayette College
Date Issued	2012
Date Available	2014-03-28T15:34:50Z
Type	Article
Language	English
Keyword	lipids
	thin-layer chromatography
	TLC
	Biomphalaria glabrata
	Schistosoma mansoni
	crowding effects
	free sterols
	free fatty acids
	densitometry
Bibliographic Citation	Dieterich, N., B. Fried, and J. Sherma (2012) "Effects of crowding on free sterols and other neutral lipids in Biomphalaria glabrata infected with Schistosoma mansoni as determined by high-performance thin-layer chromatography-densitometry." Current Topics in Steroid Research 9: 55-8.
Standard Identifier	Handle 10385/1420
Permalink	http://hdl.handle.net/10385/1420
Rights Statement	In Copyright