Comparative Study of Biologic and Enzymatic Activities from Crotalic and Bothropic Brazilian Snake Venoms
França, J.B.1; Arantes, E. C.2; Rodrigues, V. M.1; Hamaguchi, A.1; Santos, H. L.1; Homsi-Brandeburgo, M. I.1
1.Instituto de Genética e Bioquímica-Universidade Federal de Uberlândia/MG; 2.Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas-Universidade de São Paulo/SP
Most of cases of snakebites in Brazil involve snakes from Viperidae family that includes the Bothrops, Lachesis and Crotalus types. Several enzymes present in the snakes venoms has been isolated and studied. These are principally toxic enzymes such as phospholipases A2, proteolytic enzymes and other important enzyme is the hyaluronidase frequently referred to as "spreading factor" due to its ability to promote the toxin diffusion into tissues.
The present work had as goal to characterize the biological and enzymatic activities of these toxic enzymes and hyaluronidases isolated from snake venoms from Triângulo Mineiro and Alto Paranaíba. The whole venoms of Bothrops neuwiedi pauloensis, Bothrops moojeni and Crotalus durissus sp. were tested for hemolytic and direct and indirect myotoxic activity while crude venom from Bothrops moojeni, Bothrops alternatus, Bothrops jararaca, Bothrops jararacussu, Crotalus durissus terrificus e Crotalus durissus sp. were tested for hyaluronidasic activity by zymogram and turbidimetric method. Before 24 hours of hemolytic test, it was shown a higher activity for Bothrops moojeni. In this test, Bothrops neuwiedi pauloensis and Crotalus durissus sp. induced intense hemolysis too, but with some variability in time-dependent behavior. Myotoxic activity by morphological analysis showed strong muscular edema, necrosis and inflammation induced by bothropic and crotalic snake venoms, but only the bothropic ones induced hemorrhage. Indirect myotoxic activity by Creatin Kinase dosage showed a higher myotoxic activity for Crotalus durissus sp. snake venom, followed by Bothrops moojeni and Bothrops neuwiedi pauloensis. All venoms tested presented strong activity before three hours of inoculation. In hyaluronidase assays, crotalic snake venom was the most active one, followed by Bothrops jararacussu snake venom. The others bothropic snake venoms presented this activity, but in less intense way. This work characterized intense local myolytic and hemolytic activity for Bothrops neuwiedi pauloensis, Bothrops moojeni and Crotalus durissus sp. Furthermore, showed interesting results above hyaluronidasic activity.
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