Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Invertebrate Neuroscience (2019) 19:7 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10158-019-0230-1 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Assessment of the molluscicidal impact of extracted chlorophyllin on some biochemical parameters in the nervous tissue and histological changes in Biomphalaria alexandrina and Lymnaea natalensis snails Amina M. Ibrahim 1  · Fayez A. Bakry 1 Received: 31 January 2019 / Accepted: 22 July 2019 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract Biomphalaria alexandrina and Lymnaea natalensis snails are the intermediate hosts of schistosomiasis and fasciolosis. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the molluscicidal activity of chlorophyll extract as a photodynamic substance against these snails and how it afected its tissues and the biological system. Chlorophyllin was extracted from deep-frozen Moringa oleifera leaves, and then it was transformed into water-soluble chlorophyllin. The present results showed that it had a molluscicidal activity on B. alexandrina snails (LC 50  17.6 mg/l; LC 90  20.9 mg/l) and L. natalensis snails (LC 50  4.3 mg/l; LC 90  6.8 mg/l). Exposing B. alexandrina snails to the sublethal concentrations (LC 0 , LC 10 , and LC 25 ) resulted in a signif- cant reduction in their survival rates. Regarding its efect on biochemical parameters, chlorophyllin signifcantly reduced the acetylcholinesterase activity, protein content, and alkaline and acid phosphatase activity in B. alexandrina nervous tissue compared to the control group. Histopathological changes occurred in the digestive gland of treated B. alexandrina snails where cells lost their nuclei, vacuolated, degenerated, and ruptured, and the lumen increased. Photosynthesizing materials like chlorophyllin are new approaches to control schistosomiasis and fasciolosis in developing countries by afecting their inter- mediate host. These materials were cheap and environmentally safe to replace the synthetic molluscicides for snail control. Keywords Biomphalaria alexandrina · Lymnaea natalensis · Chlorophyllin · Survival rate · Enzymes · Histopathological changes Introduction Schistosomiasis and fasciolosis are widespread neglected tropical parasitic diseases that caused veterinary and human diseases and transmitted by snails (Chaturvedi et al. 2017; WHO 2017). About 200 million people worldwide are infected with schistosomiasis (Mahmoud et al. 2013), and about 250 million sheep and 350 million cattle are at risk of fasciolosis worldwide (Beesley et al. 2017). Human fascio- liasis is considered now as a zoonosis of major global and regional importance (Soliman 2008) as it is afecting nearly 50 million people worldwide (Rahman et al. 2017). Freshwater snails act as the intermediate hosts for a huge number of trematode parasites in humans and animals (Lee et al. 2017; Chontananarth et al. 2017). Freshwater snails of Biomphalaria sp. are the intermediate hosts of Schistosoma mansoni in Egypt (Ibrahim and Abdalla 2017), and Lym- naea sp. snails were the main snail host for the liver fukes, Fasciola hepatica or gigantica, which are widely distributed in Africa (Moema et al. 2008). Several strategies were used to control snail populations (Abd El-Ghany and Abd El- Ghany 2017). One of these preventive ways was by the use of the chemical molluscicides (Abdel-Ghafar et al. 2016), but because they were poisonous to nontarget organisms and had high cost (WHO 2014), it stimulated the interest to fnd suitable natural molluscicides (Elsareh et al. 2016). Plant-derived molluscicides are promising choices for controlling these snails (Kiros et al. 2014). Phytotherapy of snails by photodynamic material like chlorophyllin is a new approach to control schistosomiasis and fasciolosis * Amina M. Ibrahim aminamd.ibrahim@yahoo.com; aminamd_1982@yahoo.com 1 Environmental Research and Medical Malacology Department, Theodor Bilharz Research Institute, Imbaba, Giza, Egypt