Bothrops fonsecai snake venom activities and cross-reactivity with commercial bothropic venom.

In this work, we examined some biochemical and biological activities of Bothrops fonsecai venom, a pitviper endemic to southeastern Brazil, and assessed their neutralization by commercial bothropic antivenom (CAv). Cross-reactivity of venom with CAv was also assessed by immunoblotting and size-exclusion high performance chromatography (SE-HPLC). Bothrops fonsecai venom had PLA, proteolytic and esterase activities that were neutralized to varying extents by venom:antivenom ratios of 5:1 and 5:2 (PLA and esterase activities) or not significantly by either venom:antivenom ratio (proteolytic activity).

In vitro evaluation of total venom-antivenin immune complex formation and binding parameters relevant to antivenin protection against venom toxicity and lethality based on size-exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography.

Total venom-antivenin immune complex formation and binding parameters relevant to antivenin protection against venom toxicity and lethality can be evaluated using size-exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography (SE-HPLC). Simple integration of regions within SE-HPLC elution profiles was used to compare binding characteristics of Crotalidae Polyvalent Immune Fab (Ovine) antivenin (FabAV) and Crotalus atrox (western diamondback rattlesnake; C. atrox), C.

CroFabtrade mark total anti-venom activity measured by SE-HPLC, and anti-PLA(2) activity assayed in vitro at physiological pH.

One problem in the development and refinement of anti-venoms is ascertaining both overall anti-venom reactivity and which key toxins are neutralized. Here we show by SE-HPLC that the in vitro reaction of CroFab anti-venin with Crotalus atrox venom asymptotically nears completion (>95%) by 11 min at 4 degrees C by following the change in area under chromatographic peaks. The peaks for reactants decrease and the formation of high molecular weight complexes increases with time.

Application of manual assessment of oxygen radical absorbent capacity (ORAC) for use in high throughput assay of "total" antioxidant activity of drugs and natural products.

Introduction: Antioxidants are of particular interest in a spectrum of diseases, and thus are an active area of drug discovery and design. It is important to make considered choices as to which assay chemistry will best serve for particular investigations. We examined the manual oxygen radical absorbent capacity (ORAC) assay for "total" antioxidant activity, including a direct comparison to an alternative technique, the AOP-490 assay, using a panel of extracts from 12 phylogenetically unrelated algae.