Destructive cellular and anticoagulant activities of chitosan extracted from the oriental hornet, Vespa orientalis L. (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) and the rice grasshopper, Aiolopus thalassinus (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

The current investigation tested Chitosan isolated from adult Vespa orientalis and Aiolopus thalassinus for its cytotoxic and anticoagulant effects. Chitosan was analyzed for its effects on human breast cancer cells (MCF-7), human liver cancer cells (HepG2) and lung fibroblast cells (WI-38) after being extracted and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Also, the anticoagulant activity of extracted chitosan using activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and Prothrombin Time (PT) assays was investigated. Results showed that cytotoxic activity of both extracted chitosan samples recorded cellular viability of MCF-7 cell line equal to 17.99 and 9.53 % by V. orientalis and A. thalassinus extracted chitosan at 1000 μg/ml, respectively. At 500 μg/ml, the viability of the HepG2 cell line was recorded 54.95 and 20.76 % by V. orientalis and A. thalassinus, respectively. In addition, V. orientalis and A. thalassinus extracted chitosan showed non-cytotoxic effects against the WI-38 cell line at concentrations less than or equal to 250 and 125 μg/ml. On the other hand, the anticoagulant activity of V. orientalis extracted chitosan using APTT assay recorded 53.7 ± 0.01 second at 75 μg/ml, while A. thalassinus chitosan reached 58.91 ± 0.04 sec. at 75 μg/ml. Whereas anticoagulant activity of V. orientalis chitosan using PT assay recorded 12.16 ± 0.07 sec. at 25 μg/ml, compared with 14.37 ± 0.02 sec. for A. thalassinus chitosan at the same concentration. Based on these results, can be inferred that V. orientalis and A. thalassinus maybe considered as a source for chitosan with properties suitable for cytotoxic and anticoagulant activities.