The observation that snake venoms are able to hydrolyze thymus and yeast nucleic acids was first made by Delezenne and Morel (1) in 1919. This discovery remained practically forgotten until 1945 when Gulland and Walsh (2) employed the nuclease in the venom of Vipera russelli in studying the composition of yeast ribonucleic acid. The presence of nucleases in snake venoms assumes a r61e of great ...

Fish venoms are often poorly studied, in part due to the difficulty in obtaining, extracting, and storing them. In this study, we characterize the cardiovascular and neurotoxic effects of the venoms from the following six species of fish: the cartilaginous stingrays Neotrygon kuhlii and Himantura toshi, and the bony fish Platycephalus fucus, Girella tricuspidata, Mugil cephalus, and Dentex tumi...

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We investigated the protective effect of suramin, an enzyme inhibitor and an uncoupler of G protein from receptors, on the myotoxic activity in mice of different crotalid snake venoms (A.c. laticinctus, C.v. viridis, C.d. terrificus, B. jararacussu, B. moojeni, B. alternatus, B. jararaca, L. muta). Myotoxicity was evaluated in vivo by injecting im the venoms (0.5 or 1.0 mg/kg) dissolved in phys...

Ophidian envenomation accidents constitute a serious public health problem in many countries around the globe. Over 5 million such accident cases occur each year causing more than 100,000 deaths. In Africa, more than 20,000 deaths per year are registered while 400,000 envenomation victims retain severe and permanent functional sequelae. In Morocco, snakebites are frequent and of greater severit...

The insects of the order Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants) are classified in two groups, based on their life history: social and solitary. The venoms of the social Hymenoptera evolved to be used as defensive tools to protect the colonies of these insects from the attacks of predators. Generally they do not cause lethal effects but cause mainly inflammatory and/or immunological reactions in th...

Venoms are the secretion of venomous animals, which are synthesized and stored in specific areas of their body i.e., venom glands. The animals use venoms for defense and/or to immo‐ bilize their prey. Most of the venoms are complex mixture of biologically active compounds of different chemical nature such as multidomain proteins, peptides, enzymes, nucleotides, lipids, biogenic amines and other...

Snake venoms are known to contain a number of enzymes (l-3). Attempts have been made to correlate the toxicity of snake venoms with their enzymic activity, e.g. between nucleases and toxicity (4), phospholipase A and neurotoxic action of cobra venom (5), and proteolytic and coagulant activity and toxicity (6-8). Most of these studies have been carried out on whole venoms or after elimination of...

Scorpions, at least the species of the family Buthidæ whose venoms are better known, appear as animals that have evolved very little over time. The composition of their venoms is relatively simple as most toxins have a common structural motif that is found in other venoms from primitive species. Moreover, all the scorpion venom toxins principally act on membrane ionic channels of excitable cell...

Background: Poisoning due to the bites and stings of venomous snakes and scorpions is a neglected public health problem, particularly in rural areas. Poor health facilities and inadequate knowledge of health care personnel are the major factors that result in envenomated human victims not receiving adequate care and medical attention. There is a great need for up-to-date and effective healthcar...