Toxicity Evaluation of Anti-cholinesterasic Amphibian Extracts by MTT and an Optimized Artemia salina Test

ESPINOSA MANSILLA, A; RIETMANN A; SANCHIS I; GOICOECHEA H C; SIANO, ÁLVARO S.

Chemistry and Biodiversity

John Wiley and Sons Inc

Año: 2024 vol. 21

The amphibian skin is an important source of bioactive compounds. Recently, ourworkgroupreportedthebioactivity ofnewextractsfromtheHylidae,MicrohylidaeandLeptodactylidaefamiliesagainst severalpathways involvedinAlzheimer’s disease.However, sincecytotoxicitycanbealimitingfactor for theirapplicability,weevaluatedthetoxicityofnineamphibian skinextractswithreportedanticholinesteraseactivity,usingthe traditionalMTTassayandanoptimizedArtemiasalinatest.The proposed improvement, guidedbyexperimental design, aims toreducetheamountofbiological sampleneeded.Overall,we proved that the active extracts were non-toxic at effective concentrationagainstcholinesterases (AChE/BChE),positioning theamphibianskinasapromisingandpreliminarysafesource of bioactive compounds in the anti-Alzheimer’s treatment. Interestingly, wedemonstrated that both toxicity assays can discriminatebetweentoxicandnon-toxicsamples.Wepropose theA. salinabioassayasareliableandcost-effectivealternative forearlytoxicityscreening.