A Comparative Study of the Biological Activity of Skin and Granular Gland Secretions of Leptodactylus latrans and Hypsiboas pulchellus from Argentina
Alvaro Siano, Paula I. Gatti, Maria S. Imaz, Elsa Zerbini, Arturo C. Simonetta, Rafael Lajmanovich and Georgina G. Tonarelli
Departamento de Química Orgánica, Facultad de Bioquímica y Cs. Biológicas (FBCB), Universidad Nacional del Litoral (U.N.L). Ciudad Universitaria, (3000) Santa Fe, Argentina.
Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias “Dr. Emilio Coni”, Administración Nacional de Laboratorios e Institutos de Salud (A.N.L.I.S.), Blas Parera 8260, (3000) Santa Fe, Argentina
Cátedras de Microbiología y Biotecnología, Departamento de Ingeniería en Alimentos, Facultad de Ingeniería Química, U.N.L. Santiago del Estero 2829, (3000) Santa Fe, Argentina.
Cátedra de Ecotoxicología, Escuela Superior de Sanidad. FBCB, U.N.L. Ciudad Universitaria, (3000) Santa Fe, Argentina.
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina
Abstract: the potential of the skin of anuran amphibians as a new source of bioactive peptides was investigated . For this purpose, the study collected data in the mid-eastern region of Argentina. Two anuran amphibian species were studied which belong to the Hylidae and Leptodactylidae families, Leptodatylus latrans (Ll) and Hypsiboas pulchellus (Hp). Two methods for the extraction of bioactive components were compared in their effectiveness: solvent extraction (SE) and transcutaneous amphibian stimulation (TAS). Two different approaches were used to study the extracts: i) the direct analysis of the complete samples by MALDI-TOF-MS, and ii) the characterization of bioactive fractions obtained by HPLC and analyzed by MS. The results show that not only the composition of the samples obtained by SE and TAS is different but also their antimicrobial activity. In this sense, only the extracts obtained from Ll and Hp by SE inhibited the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv. The inhibitory activity of the extracts against the butyrylcholinesterase enzyme (BChE) was also investigated. Samples of Ll showed low percentages of inhibition whereas in Hp samples, the inhibition was moderate (40 -44%). The results suggest that the inhibitory activity of Hp is related to the presence of low molecular weight compounds.
Keywords: amphibians; antimicrobial activity; butyrylcholinesterase inhibition; granular glands; Hypsiboas pulchellus; Leptodactylus latrans; mass spectrometry; peptides; skin. © 2014 ACG Publications. All rights reserved. |