Musa spp. cultivars as a neutralising source against some toxic activities of Bothrops and Crotalus genus snake venoms.

Accidents involving snakes from Bothrops spp. and Crotalus spp. constitute the most important cause of envenomation in Brazil and Argentina. Musa spp. (banana) have been reported to be used in popular medicine against snakebite by the members of the Canudos Settlement, located in Goiás. In this way, the aim of this work was to evaluate the antivenom effect of the Ouro (AA), Prata (AAB), Prata-anã (AAB) and Figo (ABB) cultivars against in vitro (phospholipase, coagulation and proteolytic) and in vivo (lethality and toxicity) activities caused by the venoms and toxicity (Artemia salina nauplii and Danio rerio embryos) of Musa spp. as well as the annotation of chemical compounds possibly related to these activities. From the in vitro antiophidic tests with the sap, we observed 100% inhibition of the phospholipase and coagulant activities with the cultivars Prata-anã and Figo against the venoms of B. alternatus and C. d. collineatus, B. diporus and B. pauloensis, respectively, and neutralisation of the lethality against the B. diporus venom. It was observed that the cultivars of Musa spp. did not show toxicity against Artemia salina nauplii and Danio rerio embryos. The sap analysis via HPLC-MS/MS allowed the annotation of the 13 compounds: abscisic acid, shikimic acid, citric acid, quinic acid, afzelechin, Glp-hexose, glucose, sucrose, isorhamnetin-3-O-galactoside-6-raminoside, kaempferol-3-glucoside-3-raminoside, myricetin-3-O-rutinoside, procyanidin B1 and rutin. Therefore, it can be seen that Musa spp. is a potential therapeutic agent that can act to neutralise the effects caused by snakebites.

Environmentally relevant concentrations of benzophenone-3 induce differential histopathological responses in gills and liver of freshwater fish.

BP-3 is one of the most used organic UV filters. However, its widespread use and release into aquatic environment can induce ecotoxicological impact on aquatic organisms. Thus, the aim of the current study is to evaluate the gills and liver of freshwater fish Poecilia reticulata subjected to acute exposure (96 h) to BP-3 at environmentally relevant concentrations (10-1000 ng L-1). The study was based on adopting qualitative and semi-quantitative approach to assess histopathological changes and integrated the biomarker response in order to investigate organ-specific responses to BP-3 exposure. BP-3 has induced high histopathological index associated with circulatory disturbances, as well as with regressive and immunological changes in gills, whereas the hepatic histopathological index was associated with circulatory disturbances. Moreover, lower BP-3 concentrations were mostly associated with changes in gills, whereas higher BP-3 concentration was mostly linked to hepatic changes. In conclusion, acute exposure to BP-3 at environmentally relevant concentrations had stronger impact on gills than on the liver of P. reticulata, which confirmed organ-specific responses to UV filters.