Effect of bee venom or proplis on molecular and parasitological aspects of Schistosoma mansoni infected mice

The present study was performed to elucidate the efficacy of Apis mellifera L bee venom (BV) or proplis (200 mg/kg orally for three consecutive days) on Schistosoma mansoni infected mice. The results recorded reduction in the total worm burden, numbers of immature eggs and the ova count in hepatic tissue in BV (sting or injection) or proplis treated groups as compared to the infected group. Histological examination illustrated a significant increase (P ≤ 0.05) in the diameter of hepatic granuloma in BV treated groups (272.78 and 266.9, respectively) and a significant decrease in proplis treated mice (229.35) compared with the infected group (260.67). Electrophoretic pattern of RNA showed a decrease in mean of maximal optical density in liver and intestine of S. mansoni infected mice treated with bee venom (sting or injection) as compared with infected group. Flow cytometry analyses of RNA or apoptotic percentage of worms recovered from BV sting (19 and 49 % respectively); BV injected (20.5 and 51.17 %, respectively) and proplis (35 and 23.93 %, respectively) groups were compared with S. mansoni infected group (37.87 and 39.21 %, respectively). It can be concluded that administration of bee venom or proplis are effective in case of S. mansoni infection. Although bee venom cause increase of granuloma diameter and this might be due to venom concentration and further studies are required to avoid such harmful effect.