Samsum ant venom modulates the immune response and redox status at the acute toxic dose in vivo

 

Hossam Ebaid¹, Bahaa Abdel-Salam², Ibrahim Alhazza¹, Jameel Al-Tamimi¹, Iftekhar Hassan¹, Ahmed Rady¹, Ashraf Mashaly¹, Ahmed Mahmoud¹, Reda Sammour¹ 

 

1 Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.

2 Department of Biology, College of Science and Humanities in El-Quwiaya, 11961, Shaqra University, Saudi Arabia.

 

ABSTRACT

Background:

Ant venoms express surface molecules that participate in antigen presentation involving pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines. This work aims to investigate the expression of MHC-II, CD80 and CD86 on the polymorphonuclear cells (PMNs) in rats injected with samsum ant venom (SAV).

 

Methods:

Rats were divided into three groups - control, SAV-treated (intraperitoneal route, 600 μg/kg), and SAV-treated (subcutaneous route, 600 μg/kg). After five doses, animals were euthanized and samples collected for analysis.

 

Results:

The subcutaneous SAV-trated rats presented decreased levels of glutathione with increased cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Intraperitoneal SAV-treated animals displayed significantly reduced concentrations of both IFN-γ and IL-17 in comparison with the control group. However, intraperitoneal and subcutaneous SAV-treated rats were able to upregulate the expressions of MHC-II, CD80 and CD86 on PMNs in comparison with the control respectively. The histological examination showed severe lymphocyte depletion in the splenic white pulp of the intraperitoneal SAV-injected rats.

 

Conclusion:

Stimulation of PMNs by SAV leads to upregulation of MHC-II, CD 80, and CD 86, which plays critical roles in antigen presentation and consequently proliferation of T-cells. Subcutaneous route was more efficient than intraperitoneal by elevating MHC-II, CD80 and CD86 expression, disturbing oxidative stability and increasing lipogram concentration.

 

Keywords: Samsum ant venom; Polymorphonuclear cells (PMNs); Costimulatory molecules (CD80 and CD86); Major histocompatibility complex (MHC); MHC-II; Interferon gamma (INF-γ); Interleukin-17 (IL-17)

 

Received: May 16, 2019.

Accepted: November 05, 2019.

 

Correspondence to: hossamebaid1969@gmail.com

 

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

 

Authors contributions

HE, IH and IA conceived the research and study design. JA, AR and IH carried out animal handling. HE, BAS, JA, IH, AsM, AhM, AR and RS conducted experiments as per their expertise. HE, IH and IA analyzed the data. HE and IH drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript