SNAIL MUCUS - A NATURAL ORIGIN SUBSTANCE WITH POTENTIAL USE IN MEDICINE

Abstract

Natural origin substances with healing properties of potential use in the treatment of different diseases, particularly wound management, remain in the scientific and research interest for many years. The substance of natural origin with potentially wide use in medicine and pharmacy is snail mucus. The study aims to evaluate the effect of snail mucus extract on human fibroblasts and evaluate the biological and cytotoxic activity of this substance. In the present study, human NHDF fibroblast cells were exposed to snail slime at two different concentrations: 15 µL/mL and 70 µL/mL. Moreover, in this study, the assessment of the biological activity of cells was conducted using mitochondrial redox activity. At the same time, the analysis of the mucus sample was carried out throughout the infrared spectroscopy implementation. It has been shown that this substance contains compounds such as mucin, achacin, mitomycin, allantoin. The snail mucus affects the viability of fibroblasts – connective tissue cells found in the dermis, responsible for collagen and elastin production. The mechanism of positive action on human fibroblasts is not entirely known and requires further research.