Phospholipases A2 represent the most abundant family of snake venom proteins. They manifest an array of biological activities, which is constantly expanding. We have recently shown that a protein bitanarin, isolated from the venom of the puff adder Bitis arietans and possessing high phospholipolytic activity, interacts with different types of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and with the acety...

Snake venom metalloproteinases (SVMPs) play key biological roles in prey immobilization and digestion. The majority of these activities depend on the hydrolysis of relevant protein substrates in the tissues. Hereby, we describe several isoforms and a cDNA clone sequence, corresponding to PII SVMP homologues from the venom of the Central American pit viper Bothriechis lateralis, which have modif...

Snakebite envenomation is a serious medical problem in many tropical developing countries and was considered by WHO as a neglected tropical disease. Antivenom (AV), the rational and most effective treatment modality, is either unaffordable and/or unavailable in many affected countries. Moreover, each AV is specific to only one (monospecific) or a few (polyspecific) snake venoms. This demands th...

i he use ot injections of 2 per cent, solutions of hypochlorite of lime and calcium hypochlorite has been recommended by Calmette for immediate treatment in snake bite. He states that those solutions are effective and possess the advantage of not producing severe local destructive effects. It was suggested that outfits of ampoules containing hypochlorite solution might be useful for those expos...

the myocardial effect of snake venoms is considered as one of the most common pathogenesis in many cases of snake envenomation. this study was under taken to investigate the effects of snake (naja naja oxiana) venom on cardiac function in experimental animals. the blood samples from all the rabbits were collected before venom injection and then 140 µg/kg venom of snake (naja naja oxiana) was in...

Macromolecular crystallization remains a bottleneck in structure determination by X-ray diffraction. Based on the data reflecting success rates of crystallization conditions in different screens and the information derived from the BMCD and other related studies, a simplified screen has been designed to increase the success rate of traditional screening and to save samples, time and cost. The s...

Many animals produced a diversity of venoms and secretions to adapt the changes of environments through the long history of evolution. The components including a large quantity of specific and highly active peptides and proteins have become good research models for protein structure-function and also served as tools and novel clues for illustration of human disease mechanisms. At the same time,...

Medically important cases of snakebite in Europe are predominately caused by European vipers of the genus Vipera. The mainstay of snakebite therapy is polyclonal antibody therapy, referred to as antivenom. Here we investigate the capability of the monospecific V. berus antivenom, ViperaTAb®, to cross-react with, and neutralise lethality induced by, a variety of European vipers. Using ELISA and ...

BACKGROUND The variation of venom composition with geography is an important aspect of intraspecific variability in the Vipera genus, although causes of this variability remain unclear. The diversity of snake venom is important both for our understanding of venomous snake evolution and for the preparation of relevant antivenoms to treat envenomations. A geographic intraspecific variation in sna...