Citation

Porto BN, Telli CA, Dutra TP, Alves LS, Bozza MT, Fin CA, Thiesen FV, Renner MF. Toxicon 2007; 50(2): 270-277.

Affiliation

Laboratório de Inflamação e Imunidade, Depto. de Imunologia, Instituto de Microbiologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho, 373, CCS Bloco I, sala 059, Ilha do Fundão, 21.941-902 Rio de Janeiro--RJ, Brazil. bnporto@hotmail.com

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.toxicon.2007.03.020

PMID

17537475

Abstract

Snake venom is a complex mixture containing diverse protein components with different structures and functions that are used for prey immobilization and death. Snake venoms from the family Viperidae cause pronounced local and systemic effects, such as pain, edema, hemorrhage and necrosis. Here, we investigated the enzymatic and biological activities of venoms from two Amazonian snakes, Bothriopsis bilineata and Bothriopsis taeniata. Both venoms presented high enzymatic activities for proteases kallikrein, thrombin and plasmin, low levels of trypsin, cathepsin C and leucine aminopeptidase activities, while lacked acetylcholinesterase activity. B. taeniata and B. bilineata crude venoms caused inflammation inducing neutrophil recruitment into peritoneal cavity of mice 4h after injection. Neutrophil recruitment induced by B. taeniata venom was accompanied by hemorrhage. EDTA treatment profoundly impaired neutrophil recruitment, suggesting the involvement of a metalloproteinase on venoms-induced neutrophil recruitment. Pretreatment with dexamethasone and zileuton, a 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor, significantly reduced neutrophil migration, but indomethacin and montelukast, a cysteinyl leukotriene receptor antagonist, had no effect, suggesting the involvement of lipoxygenase-derived metabolites, probably LTB(4). Together, these results show that B. bilineata and B. taeniata venoms induce a marked inflammatory reaction, with leukocyte recruitment, and hemorrhage, which parallels to a high proteolytic activity found in these venoms.

Language: en