Snail Mucus from Achatina fulica as a Biomaterial Exhibits Pro-Survival Effects on Human Chondrocytes.

This study reports the novel use of () mucus as a potential therapeutic repair agent in osteoarthritis and cartilage tissue repair . Snail mucus was isolated, sterilized, and characterized using FTIR, XPS, rheology, and LC-MS/MS. The GAGs, sugar, phenol, and protein contents were estimated using standard assays. The LC-MS/MS identified 6-gingerol and some other small molecules. The effects of the sterilized mucus were studied on human chondrocytes using the C28/I2 cell as a model for the assays. The MTT assay indicates that mucus extracted from the pedal of is biocompatible with the cells up to a concentration of 50 μg/mL. The mucus promoted cell migration and proliferation and completely closed the wound within 72 h, as indicated in the scratch assay. In addition, the snail mucus reduced apoptosis significantly ( < 0.05) in the treated cells by 74.6%. It preserved the cytoskeletal integrity of the C28/I2 cells, attributed mainly to GAGs and 6-gingerol content of the mucus. In conclusion, this present study suggests that GAGs and 6-gingerol conferred wound-healing and antiapoptotic properties on the mucus secretion from and can be explored for therapeutic repair and cartilage tissue engineering.