Does zinc sulfate inhibit the in vitro cytotoxicity of crude toxin from Pelagia noctiluca?

Abstract

The Scyphomedusa Pelagia noctiluca is known to be an harmful species able to cause contact dermatitis and also systemic symptoms in sensitive subjects. Taking into account that some compounds are known to be protective agents against jellyfish venoms, in this research the protection of non-cytotoxic zinc sulfate concentrations was evaluated on cultured L929 mouse fibroblasts exposed to nematocyst crude venom at doses ranging between 60x103 and 240x103 nematocysts/ml. The results indicate that the pre-treatment with 10-6 M zinc sulfate allowed a significant cell survival increase and protection after exposition to nematocyst does from 60x103 to 180x103 nematcysts/ml. Therefore, zinc sulfate could be a valuable protective agent in barrier creams applied to bather'sskin with the purpuse to protect from Pelagia noctiluca sting.

Keywords

• Pelagia noctiluca, jellyfish, cytotoxicity, zinc sulfate protection