We used infrared thermography to study respiratory cooling in the rattlesnakes (Viperidae: Crotalinae) and to partition the effects of air temperature, humidity, and activity levels on head-body temperature differences. We observed a single, cooled region centered around the mouth and nasal capsule that extended across the pit membrane at air temperatures above 20 degrees C. Both head and body ...

Disintegrins are low molecular weight proteins (4-15 kDa) with an RGD binding region at their binding loop. Disintegrin and disintegrin-like proteins are found in the venom of four families of snakes: Atractaspididae, Elapidae, Viperidae, and Colubridae. This report describes the biological activity of a disintegrin, crotatroxin 2, isolated by a three-step chromatography procedure from the veno...

The venom of several species of poisonous snakes acts to spread India ink through the skin as do the spreading factors procurable from certain tissues and elaborated by invasive bacteria. The factor is most abundant in the venom of the Viperidae (rattlesnake) family and relatively scant in the venom of Colubridae proteroglypha (cobra) family, and it is absent from toad venom. Extracts of the su...

Bothrops asper (Squamata: Viperidae) is the most important venomous snake in Central America, being responsible for the majority of snakebite accidents. Four basic PLA2s (pMTX-I to -IV) were purified from crude venom by a single-step chromatography using a CM-Sepharose ion-exchange column (1.5 × 15 cm). Analysis of the N-terminal sequence demonstrated that pMTX-I and III belong to the catalytic...

Phospholipases type A2 (PLA2s) are the most abundant proteins found in Viperidae snake venom. They are quite fascinating from both a biological and structural point of view. Despite similarity in their structures and common catalytic properties, they exhibit a wide spectrum of pharmacological activities. Besides being hydrolases, secreted phospholipases A2 (sPLA2) are an important group of toxi...

The purpose of this review is to address the global incidence and management of snakebite envenomation and to describe the clinical characteristics and pathogenesis of envenomation by species of the family Viperidae, genera Bothrops and Crotalus, the most common venomous snakes in Brazil. We focus on the pathogenesis of the acute renal failure induced by these snakes. Envenomation after snakebi...

Snake venom disintegrins are low molecular weight, non-enzymatic proteins rich in cysteine, present the of snakes from families Viperidae, Crotalidae, Atractaspididae, Elapidae, and Colubridae. This family originated through proteolytic processing metalloproteinases (SVMPs), which, turn, evolved a gene encoding an A Disintegrin And Metalloprotease (ADAM) molecule. Disintegrins have recognition ...