Novel activities of saliva from the octopus Eledone cirrhosa (Mollusca; Cephalopoda)

L N Key, P R Boyle, M Jaspars

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Haemolytic activity against mammalian erythrocytes was detected in very low concentrations of saliva from the octopus Eledone cirrhosa. It was not caused by any previously identified component of this saliva. The activity was slightly inhibited by trypsin and more drastically by chymotrypsin.

Locust bioassay was used to test HPLC fractions isolated from E. cirrhosa saliva. An LD50 of 378.4 ug/g locust weight was calculated for whole saliva injected into the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria.

This study was the first record of haemolytic activity and toxicity to insects in cephalopod saliva. Both haemolytic and insecticidal fractions could be separated using reversed phase HPLC. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)677-683
Number of pages7
JournalToxicon
Volume40
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2002

Keywords

  • Eledone cirrhosa
  • saliva
  • haemolysis
  • toxin
  • vulgaris

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