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Curr Top Med Chem 2019 ;19(22):2003-2031

Departamento de Antibióticos, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil.

Snakebite envenomation is an important health problem in tropical countries, with severe human and social consequences. In Latin America, the Bothrops species constitute the main threat to humans, and the envenomation caused by these species quickly develops into severe local tissue damage, including swelling, hemorrhaging, myonecrosis, skin ulceration, and pain. The systemic effects of envenomation are usually neutralized by antivenom serum therapy, despite its intrinsic risks. Read More

Toxins (Basel) 2018 04 26;10(5). Epub 2018 Apr 26.

Laboratory of Toxinology, Department of Clinical Analysis, Toxicology and Food Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo-USP, Ribeirão Preto, SP 14040-903, Brazil.

Venom composition varies across snakes from all taxonomic levels and is influenced by the snakes’ age, habitat, diet, and sexual dimorphism. The present study reports the first in-depth investigation of venom composition in male and female () snakes (BmooM and BmooF, respectively) through three proteomics approaches associated with functional, cytotoxic, and immunoreactivity characterization. Compared with BmooM venom, BmooF venom exhibited weaker hyaluronidase, metalloproteinase, and phospholipase activity; stronger recognition by anti-bothropic serum; 1. Read More

Toxicon 2018 Jun 11;148:26-32. Epub 2018 Apr 11.

Ecology and Evolution Laboratory, The Butantan Institute, Av. Dr. Vital Brazil 1500, CEP 05503-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil.

The assessment of the capacity of antivenoms to neutralize the lethal activity of snake venoms still relies on traditional rodent in vivo lethality assay. ED and LD assays require large quantities of venoms and antivenoms, and besides leading to animal suffering. Therefore, in vitro tests should be introduced for assessing antivenom neutralizing capacity in intermediary steps of antivenom production. Read More

Toxicon 2014 Nov 13;90:148-54. Epub 2014 Aug 13.

Laboratory of Pharmacology, Butantan Institute, Av. Dr. Vital Brazil 1500, CEP 05503-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Electronic address:

The assessment of the capacity of antivenoms to neutralize the lethal activity of snake venoms still relies largely on traditional rodent lethality assay (LD50). However, adequately validated in vitro tests should be introduced for assessing antivenom neutralizing capacity in plasma of immunized horses as well as for in-process quality control. The dynamic of fibrin formation in recalcified avian plasma samples is extremely slow, when compared to that presented by mammalian plasmas. Read More

Biochim Biophys Acta 2013 Dec 18;1834(12):2772-81. Epub 2013 Oct 18.

Dep. de Física e Biofísica, Instituto de Biociências, UNESP - Universidade Estadual Paulista, Botucatu and Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Toxinas, CNPq, Brazil.

Bothrops brazili is a snake found in the forests of the Amazonian region whose commercial therapeutic anti-bothropic serum has low efficacy for local myotoxic effects, resulting in an important public health problem in this area. Catalytically inactive phospholipases A2-like (Lys49-PLA2s) are among the main components from Bothrops genus venoms and are capable of causing drastic myonecrosis. Several studies have shown that the C-terminal region of these toxins, which includes a variable combination of positively charged and hydrophobic residues, is responsible for their activity. Read More