New insights into the structural characteristics of irradiated crotamine.

Background: Since ionizing radiation has the potential to alter the molecular structure and affect the biological properties of biomolecules, it has been successfully employed to attenuate animal toxins. The present study aimed to characterize the structural modifications on irradiated crotamine, a toxin from Crotalus durissus terrificus venom, using circular dichroism (CD), fluorescence, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).

Methods: A combination of size exclusion and ion-exchange chromatography was used to purify the peptide using crude venom.