1. Department of Biological Sciences, Achievers University, P.M.B 2240, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria
2. Department of Environmental Biology and Fisheries, Faculty of Science, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba -Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria
3. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria
Author
Correspondence author
International Journal of Molecular Medical Science, 2015, Vol. 5, No. 2 doi: 10.5376/ijmms.2015.05.0002
Received: 09 Mar., 2015 Accepted: 18 May, 2015 Published: 10 Jun., 2015
This is an open access article published under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Ogundeyi et al., 2015, Effect of Polistes fuscatus (Hymenoptera: wasp) Venom Extract on Phenobarbitone Sleeping Time in Albino Rats (Rattus norvegicus), International Journal of Molecular Medical Science, Vol.5, No.2, 1-3 (doi: 10.5376/ijmms.2015.05.0002)
Wasp of the cosmopolitan genus Polistes are the familiar of the Polistine wasps. The sting and venom have been evolved to be effective weapons against predators. The biological activities of the wasp venom have been classified as neurotoxin, haemolytic, and algogenic. This study monitors the effect of the wasp venom to potentiate the sleeping time in albino rats. Thirty (30) male albino rats with body weight of 120-170 g were used. The rats were divided into three groups (treatment, reference, and control), the treatment was further divided into three groups based on the dosage into mild, moderate and high dose, each group has six replicate. The treatment rats received 50 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg, and 200 mg/kg of the venom extract and were later given 40mg/kg phenobarbitone injection, thirty minutes after the administration of the venom extract, the reference group received 40mg/kg phenobarbitone injection and the control rats received 40 mg/kg of the extract. The result shows that increase in dosage is directly proportional to the sleeping response of the rats in the treatment group. The dosage (50 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg, and 200 mg/kg) induced a mean sleeping time of 306.16 minutes, 323.20 minutes and 373.17 minutes respectively. A significant increase (p<0.05) in sleeping time was recorded in the rats that received high dose of the venom extract compared to other groups. The control rats recorded a mean sleeping time of 210 minutes, while the reference group recorded a mean sleeping time of 325 minutes. The sedative ability of the wasp venom has been demonstrated with this study, with sedation beginning within 20-30 minutes and reaching the peak at hours (post inoculation).
Wasps of the cosmopolitan genus Polistes are the most familiar of the Polistine wasps. It is also single largest genus within the family vespidae, with over 300 recognised species and subspecies. The insect make their nests around homes, in dry wood that offer protection from the harsh environmental conditions and competition from other species (Evans and Milne, 1980). Due to proximity of the wasps to human and their habitation in houses and other structures, they can prove hazardous. They can inflict stings on domestic animals in places such as barns and pens where they may have their nests. Humans are also at risk of aggravating this insect and suffering from sting. The sting has evolved to be effective weapons against predators. Venom are ideal defence because it can be injected through the stinger directly in to the assailant body, where it cause pain and toxicity. The sting apparatus of wasp are modified ovipositors used to deliver venom rather than to lay eggs. The biological activity of the venom can be classified as neurotoxin, haemolytic, digestive, haemorrhagic and algogenic (pain producing). Venom are chemically described as consisting of alkaloids, terpenes, polysaccharide, biogenic amines (such as histamine), organic acid (formic acid) and amino acid, but the majority are peptides and proteins (Blum, 1981; Schmidt, 1998). Allergic reactions can either be local or generalised. Most people stung will experience a local reaction with redness pain, swelling and itching at the sting site. If the reaction progress quickly to sites other than the sting site, general or systemic reaction may occur. Systemic reactions vary greatly in severity. Early features are erythema, pruiritis, urticaria, and angio-oedema. The symptoms of systemic reactions are itchiness and hives over the whole body, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and sedation, swelling of the eyelids, lips or tongues, difficulty in breathing, rapid heartbeat, seizures, hypotension which may cause fainting. This study monitors of the wasp venom to potentiate the phenobarbitone sleeping time in albino rats.
1 Materials and Methods
1.1 Wasp Collections
Living specimens of the Polistes fuscatus wasps were collected at different point in the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) manually by hands protected with rubber gloves. The insect were kept in an insect cage. The wasps were identified at the Department of Forestry and Wildlife in the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun state.
1.2 Animals (Albino Rats)
Thirty (30) male albino rats (Rattus norvegicus) with body weight ranging from 120-170g were bought from the market and were housed in the pre clinical animal house in the Department of Biological Sciences (FUNAAB). The animal house was ventilated and maintained at room temperature and the animals were fed with poultry feed and water ad libitum.
1.3 Preparation of the Wasp Venom Extract
A total of one hundred (100) living specimen of Polistes fuscatus were collected and attenuated using chloroform. The abdomen of the wasp was later severed from the insect body using scissors. The sting apparatus used to prepare the venom extract were removed from the wasp abdomen by pulling the sting out with forceps and disconnecting the rectum from the sting chamber. The sting apparatus include the sting, sting chamber, venom, Dufour’s gland, and the venom sac. The sting apparatus was macerated in a glass mortar and distilled water was added to extract the venom. The extract was preserved in a refrigerator (Piek and Spanjer, 1986).
2 Pharmacological Studies
2.1 Effect of Venom Extract on Phenobarbitone Sleeping Time
The treatment rats were intra-peritoneally injected with varied dose of 50 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg venom extract. The control rats received 40 mg/kg of venom extract, while the reference group received 40 mg/kg phenobarbitone. After 30 minutes of administration of venom extract all treatment rats’ received 40 mg/kg phenobarbitone injection. The time of loss/gain of right reflex was noted and taken as a measure of sleeping time.
2.2 Statistical Analysis
Data collected were statistically analysed using Analysis of variance (ANOVA), Duncan multiple range test.
3 Results
The administration of the wasp venom potentiated the Phenobarbitone sleeping time in the treatment rats. Increase in dosage was directly proportional to the sleeping response of the rats in the treatment group. 50 mg/kg of venom extract induced a mean sleeping time of 306.16 minutes, while 100 mg/kg induced a mean sleeping time of 323.20 minutes and 200mg/kg of the venom induced a mean sleeping time of 373.17 minutes (Table 1). There is significant increase (p<0.05) in the sleeping time of the rats which received the highest dose compared with other treatments. The control rats experienced low mean sleeping time of 210 minutes, compared to the treatments (p<0.05). The venom extract at various doses compared favourably with the reference group inducing sedation in the rats. The highest sleeping time (370 minutes) was induced at the highest dose of 200 mg/kg, while other treatments induced relatively lower sleeping time (Table 2). The Duncan multiple test range shows that rats which received 200 mg/kg experienced the highest sleeping time, followed by the rats which received Phenobarbitone only, 100 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg respectively (Table 3). The control rats experienced the lowest sleeping time.
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Table 1 Effect of venom extract on Phenobarbitone sleeping time
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Table 2 Duncan multiple range test for mean sleeping time
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Table 3 The analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the treatments
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4 Discussion
The findings from this study reveal the ability of the wasp venom to increase the Phenobarbitone sleeping time in rats. The Phenobarbitone sleeping time increased with increase in dosage, this may be as a result of the enzyme hyaluronidase which depresses the action of the central nervous system. This result is similar to a study conducted by Eldefrawi et al. (1988) which reports that the wasp venom when injected into the prey diffuses to the peripheral nervous system to interfere with the release of excitatory transmitter at the neuro- muscular junctions. When stung by a wasp, Evans et al. (1970)reported that the person experience dizziness, nausea and weakness. This is followed by drop in blood pressure, shock (anaphylaxis) and darkened skin colouration, with most death in thirty (30) minutes. Similar results were recorded in this study, with the injection of the wasp venom inducing dizziness, weakness and loss of right reflex in the rats. The wasp venom extract induced sedation in the rats with high dose (200 mg/kg) of the venom extract inducing transient paralysis, sedation and greatly reduced spontaneous loco motor activities in the treatment rats. Similar result have been reported by Libersat et al. (2006), that the wasp venom consists of biochemical compounds that is capable of inducing transient paralysis, fainting and even death, if the venom persists in the blood stream. This present study establishes the effect of the wasp venom extract on the activities of the central nervous system. This was demonstrated in its ability to potentiate the Phenobarbitone sleeping time and reduced spontaneous loco motor activities in the rats. The sedative ability of the wasp venom has been established in this study, with sedation commencing about 20-30 minutes and reaching the peak at 2 hours (post inoculation). The result of this study suggest that the wasp venom contains chemical and biological compounds that potentiate the sleeping time, cause sedation and reduce spontaneous locator activities in the rats. The constituent of the wasp venom will be a subject further research in other studies.
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Evans H.E., 1970, The wasps, Anne Arboretum, University of Michigan press
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Schidmt J.O., 1998, Biochemistry of insect venom, Annual revision entomology, 27: 339-368
