High performance column liquid chromatographic analysis of selected carboxylic acids in Biomphalaria glabrata patently infected with Schistosoma mansoni.

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to determine the effects of a patent Schistosoma mansoni infection on certain carboxylic acids in the digestive gland gonad complex (DGG) and hemolymph of Biomphalaria glabrata. An analysis of DGG samples was done using extraction with 50% Locke's solution, cleanup of the extract by anion exchange solid phase extraction (SPE), and ion exclusion HPLC with ultraviolet detection. Hemolymph was applied directly to the SPE column. Acetic, fumaric, malic, and pyruvic acids were detected, confirmed, and quantified at concentrations ranging from 12 to 280 ppm in the DGG and less than 124 to 8,000 microg/dl in the hemolymph. Infection with S. mansoni caused a significant reduction (Student's t test, P < 0.05) in the concentrations of acetic, fumaric, malic, and pyruvic acids in the DGG but not the hemolymph of B. glabrata compared to uninfected cohort snails. The significant reduction of certain carboxylic acids in the DGG of B. glabrata patently infected with S. mansoni suggests that these acids are utilized by the sporocysts and cercariae in the snail tissue, or that the infection stimulates reduced production or increased utilization by the snail tissue.