Publications by authors named "B Lomonte"
Background: The genus Metlapilcoatlus was recently erected to include six species of stout venomous snakes, known as the jumping pitvipers, which inhabit mountainous areas of Mesoamerica. This group maintains affinity with Atropoides picadoi, another jumping pitviper with restricted distribution in Costa Rica and Panama. Although the venom of A.
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- Coralsnakes from the genus Micrurus, which includes over 80 species across the Americas, have highly toxic venoms that can cause severe respiratory issues and potentially death.
- Their venom primarily consists of three-finger toxins (3FTx) and group I phospholipase A (PLA) proteins, with different species showing varying dominance of these toxins, possibly linked to their evolutionary history.
- A new study used a top-down proteomics approach on venoms from five Costa Rican Micrurus species, revealing common venom proteoforms and offering deeper understanding of venom complexity and the 3FTx/PLA protein balance.
Article Synopsis
- The venom of Bothrops lanceolatus, a viper species from Martinique, is known to cause thrombosis, particularly in patients bitten by juvenile snakes, prompting research into the underlying mechanisms.
- The study compared the venoms of juvenile and adult specimens, revealing that juvenile venom induces more significant thrombus formation in mice than adult venom, despite both having similar proteomes.
- An experimental model showcasing the thrombotic effects of B. lanceolatus venom was established, highlighting the differences in effects between juvenile and adult specimens, and indicating that other factors like metalloproteinase activity may not be solely responsible for thrombus formation.
Snake venoms are a complex mixture of proteins and polypeptides that represent a valuable source of potential molecular tools for understanding physiological processes for the development of new drugs. In this study two major PLAs, named PLA-I (Asp49) and PLA-II (Lys49), isolated from the venom of Bothrops diporus from Northeastern Argentina, have shown cytotoxic effects on LM3 murine mammary tumor cells, with PLA-II-like exhibiting a stronger effect compared to PLA-I. At sub-cytotoxic levels, both PLAs inhibited adhesion, migration, and invasion of these adenocarcinoma cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFis a scorpion genus that inhabits dry and seasonal areas of South and Central America. It is located in a distinctive morpho-group of Buthids, the ' group', which also includes species distributed in the Old World. Because of the lack of information on venom composition, the study of species could have biological and medical relevance.
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