Assessment of the molluscicidal activity of the methanolic seed extracts of Ziziphus spina-christi and Carica papaya on immunological and molecular aspects of Biomphalaria alexandrina snails

Medicinal plants are still less expensive, safe to non-target organisms, and eco-friendly. The present work aims to evaluate the molluscicidal activity of the methanolic extract of Ziziphus spina-christi and Carica papaya seeds against Biomphalaria alexandrina snails. The half lethal concentrations (LC50) of Z. spina-christi and C. papaya were 108 and 138.5 mg/L, respectively after 24 h. LC10 of C. papaya created a pronounced induction in catalase (CAT) activity, while LC25 of Z. spina-christi and LC50 of C. papaya induced an inhibition in superoxide dismutase (SOD) level in treated snails. LC25 of Z. spina-christi caused the highest induction in total antioxidant capacity (TAC). Phagocytic indices values were the lowest in snails exposed to LC50 of both Z. spina-christi and C. papaya. Considerable changes in DNA patterns were observed in all treated groups by RAPD-PCR using six primers. The similarity indices of snails exposed to Z. spina-christi were higher than those exposed to C. papaya. Results showed no mortality in Daphnia magna individuals during the first 12 h of the experiment, while the extract of C. papaya seeds was more toxic on D. magna than Z. spina-christi after 24 h of the exposure.