Investigation of the hazardous substance causing crayfish-induced rhabdomyolysis via a mouse model, a hemolysis assay, and a cytotoxicity assay

Abstract

The hazardous substance from Procambarus clarkii could cause rhabdomyolysis. Mice were administered mashed muscles and gills, intestines, and glands (GIG) obtained from cooked crayfish by gavage. Three of seventy-two mice administered with GIG (with an incidence rate of 4.17 %) appeared to have rhabdomyolysis symptoms with the serum creatine kinase (CK) content increased by more than 5 times, as well as the pathological changes in livers, spleens, kidneys, and skeletal muscles. Furthermore, the cytotoxicity and hemolysis analysis of the palytoxin revealed that the methanol/water extracts from GIG of crayfish were not inhibited by ouabain effectively, which pointed out the hazardous substance causing rhabdomyolysis was not allergen or palytoxin. These research results could be valuable in further comprehensive experiments and lay a foundation for basic rhabdomyolysis research.