Potential Mucosal Irritation Discrimination of Surface Disinfectants Employed against SARS-CoV-2 by <i>Limacus flavus</i> Slug Mucosal Irritation Assay

Preventive measures have proven to be the most effective strategy to counteract the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Among these, disinfection is strongly suggested by international health organizations’ official guidelines. As a consequence, the increase of disinfectants handling is going to expose...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Marco Alfio Cutuli, Antonio Guarnieri, Laura Pietrangelo, Irene Magnifico, Noemi Venditti, Laura Recchia, Katia Mangano, Ferdinando Nicoletti, Roberto Di Marco, Giulio Petronio Petronio
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-04-01
Series:Biomedicines
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/9/4/424
Description
Summary:Preventive measures have proven to be the most effective strategy to counteract the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Among these, disinfection is strongly suggested by international health organizations’ official guidelines. As a consequence, the increase of disinfectants handling is going to expose people to the risk of eyes, mouth, nose, and mucous membranes accidental irritation. To assess mucosal irritation, previous studies employed the snail <i>Arion lusitanicus</i> as the mucosal model in Slug Mucosal Irritation (SMI) assay. The obtained results confirmed snails as a suitable experimental model for their anatomical characteristics superimposable to the human mucosae and the different easily observed readouts. Another terrestrial gastropod, <i>Limacus flavus</i>, also known as “ Yellow slug “, due to its larger size and greater longevity, has already been proposed as an SMI assay alternative model. In this study, for the first time, in addition to the standard parameters recorded in the SMI test, the production of yellow pigment in response to irritants, unique to the snail <i>L. flavus</i>, was evaluated. Our results showed that this species would be a promising model for mucosal irritation studies. The study conducted testing among all those chemical solutions most commonly recommended against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
ISSN:2227-9059