Hyperglycosylation impairs the inhibitory activity of rCdtPLI2, the first recombinant beta-phospholipase A inhibitor.

Crotoxin, a phospholipase A (PLA) complex and the major Crotalus venom component, is responsible for the main symptoms described in crotalic snakebite envenomings and a key target for PLA inhibitors (PLIs). PLIs comprise the alpha, beta and gamma families, and, due to a lack of reports on beta-PLIs, this study aimed to heterologously express CdtPLI2 from Crotalus durissus terrificus venom gland to improve the knowledge of the neglected beta-PLI family. Thereby, recombinant CdtPLI2 (rCdtPLI2) was produced in the eukaryotic Pichia pastoris system to keep some native post-translational modifications.

The complex repertoire of Tityus spp. venoms: Advances on their composition and pharmacological potential of their toxins.

Animal venoms are a rich and complex source of components, including peptides (such as neurotoxins, anionic peptides and hypotensins), lipids, proteins (such as proteases, hyaluronidases and phospholipases) and inorganic compounds, which affect all biological systems of the envenoming victim. Their action may result in a wide range of clinical manifestations, including tachy/bradycardia, hyper/hypotension, disorders in blood coagulation, pain, edema, inflammation, fever, muscle paralysis, coma and even death. Scorpions are one of the most studied venomous animals in the world and interesting bioactive molecules have been isolated and identified from their venoms over the years.

Pioneering Study on Scorpion Venom: Isolation and Characterization of the Major Toxin and Hyaluronidase.

Scorpionism is responsible for most accidents involving venomous animals in Brazil, which leads to severe symptoms that can evolve to death. Scorpion venoms consist of complexes cocktails, including peptides, proteins, and non-protein compounds, making separation and purification procedures extremely difficult and time-consuming. Scorpion toxins target different biological systems and can be used in basic science, for clinical, and biotechnological applications.

Scorpion Venom: Detriments and Benefits.

Scorpion venom may cause severe medical complications and untimely death if injected into the human body. Neurotoxins are the main components of scorpion venom that are known to be responsible for the pathological manifestations of envenoming. Besides neurotoxins, a wide range of other bioactive molecules can be found in scorpion venoms.

Do Antibiotics Potentiate Proteases in Hemotoxic Snake Venoms?

Antibiotics are often administered with antivenom following snakebite envenomings in order to avoid secondary bacterial infections. However, to this date, no studies have evaluated whether antibiotics may have undesirable potentiating effects on snake venom. Herein, we demonstrate that four commonly used antibiotics affect the enzymatic activities of proteolytic snake venom toxins in two different in vitro assays.

EP80317 Restrains Inflammation and Mortality Caused by Scorpion Envenomation in Mice.

Over 1 million cases of scorpion stings are estimated every year, whereas current treatment is limited to antivenom serum combined with supportive therapy. scorpion venom (TsV) is composed of diverse molecules, including toxins that induce a catecholamine storm and mediate classical symptoms of scorpion envenomation. However, the same toxins promote an intense inflammatory response coordinated by innate immune cells, such as macrophages, contributing significantly to the lung edema and mortality caused by TsV injection.

CD36 Shunts Eicosanoid Metabolism to Repress CD14 Licensed Interleukin-1β Release and Inflammation.

Interleukin (IL)-1β is a potential target for treatment of several inflammatory diseases, including envenomation by the scorpion . In this context, bioactive lipids such as prostaglandin (PG)E and leukotriene (LT)B modulate the production of IL-1β by innate immune cells. Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) that perceive venom (TsV), and orchestrate LTB, PGE, and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) production to regulate IL-1β release are unknown.

Antifungal Activity against Filamentous Fungi of Ts1, a Multifunctional Toxin from Scorpion Venom.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are ubiquitous and multipotent components of the innate immune defense arsenal used by both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. The search for new AMPs has increased in recent years, due to the growing development of microbial resistance to therapeutical drugs. In this work, we evaluate the effects of venom (Tsv), its fractions and its major toxin Ts1, a beta-neurotoxin, on fungi growth.

Partial purification and functional characterization of Ts19 Frag-I, a novel toxin from Tityus serrulatus scorpion venom.

Background: The yellow scorpion Tityus serrulatus (Ts) is responsible for the highest number of accidents and the most severe scorpion envenoming in Brazil. Although its venom has been studied since the 1950s, it presents a number of orphan peptides that have not been studied so far. The objective of our research was to isolate and identify the components present in the fractions VIIIA and VIIIB of Ts venom, in order to search for a novel toxin.

Immunosuppressive evidence of Tityus serrulatus toxins Ts6 and Ts15: insights of a novel K(+) channel pattern in T cells.

The voltage-gated potassium channel Kv1.3 is a novel target for immunomodulation of autoreactive effector memory T cells, which play a major role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. In this study, the Ts6 and Ts15 toxins isolated from Tityus serrulatus (Ts) were investigated for their immunosuppressant roles on CD4(+) cell subsets: naive, effector (TEF ), central memory (TCM) and effector memory (TEM).

Arthropod venom Hyaluronidases: biochemical properties and potential applications in medicine and biotechnology.

Hyaluronidases are enzymes that mainly degrade hyaluronan, the major glycosaminoglycan of the interstitial matrix. They are involved in several pathological and physiological activities including fertilization, wound healing, embryogenesis, angiogenesis, diffusion of toxins and drugs, metastasis, pneumonia, sepsis, bacteremia, meningitis, inflammation and allergy, among others. Hyaluronidases are widely distributed in nature and the enzymes from mammalian spermatozoa, lysosomes and animal venoms belong to the subclass EC 3.

Identification of hyaluronidase and phospholipase B in Lachesis muta rhombeata venom.

Hyaluronidases contribute to local and systemic damages after envenoming, since they act as spreading factors cleaving the hyaluronan presents in the connective tissues of the victim, facilitating the diffusion of venom components. Although hyaluronidases are ubiquitous in snake venoms, they still have not been detected in transcriptomic analysis of the Lachesis venom gland and neither in the proteome of its venom performed previously. This work purified a hyaluronidase from Lachesis muta rhombeata venom whose molecular mass was estimated by SDS-PAGE to be 60 kDa.

Bordonein-L, a new L-amino acid oxidase from Crotalus durissus terrificus snake venom: isolation, preliminary characterization and enzyme stability.

Background: Crotalus durissus terrificus venom (CdtV) is one of the most studied snake venoms in Brazil. Despite presenting several well known proteins, its L-amino acid oxidase (LAAO) has not been studied previously. This study aimed to isolate, characterize and evaluate the enzyme stability of bordonein-L, an LAAO from CdtV.

Biological characterization of compounds from Rhinella schneideri poison that act on the complement system.

Background: The skin secretions of toads of the family Bufonidae contain biogenic amines, alkaloids, steroids (bufotoxins), bufodienolides (bufogenin), peptides and proteins. The poison of Rhinella schneideri, formerly classified as Bufo paracnemis, presents components that act on different biological systems, including the complement system. The aim of this study was to isolate and examine the activity of Rhinella schneideri poison (RsP) components on the complement system.

Revealing the Function and the Structural Model of Ts4: Insights into the "Non-Toxic" Toxin from Tityus serrulatus Venom.

The toxin, previously described as a "non-toxic" toxin, was isolated from the scorpion venom of Tityus serrulatus (Ts), responsible for the most severe and the highest number of accidents in Brazil. In this study, the subtype specificity and selectivity of Ts4 was investigated using six mammalian Nav channels (Nav1.2→Nav1.

Electrophysiological characterization of Ts6 and Ts7, K⁺ channel toxins isolated through an improved Tityus serrulatus venom purification procedure.

In Brazil, Tityus serrulatus (Ts) is the species responsible for most of the scorpion related accidents. Among the Ts toxins, the neurotoxins with action on potassium channels (α-KTx) present high interest, due to their effect in the envenoming process and the ion channel specificity they display. The α-KTx toxins family is the most relevant because its toxins can be used as therapeutic tools for specific target cells.

Purification and characterization of antimicrobial peptides from fish isolate Carnobacterium maltaromaticum C2: Carnobacteriocin X and carnolysins A1 and A2.

Carnobacterium maltaromaticum C2, isolated from Brazilian smoked fish (Surubim, Pseudoplatystoma sp.), was found to exert antimicrobial activity against Listeria monocytogenes, an important foodborne pathogen. In this study, the bacteriocins produced by C.

Isolation, enzymatic characterization and antiedematogenic activity of the first reported rattlesnake hyaluronidase from Crotalus durissus terrificus venom.

A hyaluronidase (CdtHya1) from Crotalus durissus terrificus snake venom (CdtV) was isolated and showed to exhibit a high activity on hyaluronan cleavage. However, surveys on this enzyme are still limited. This study aimed at its isolation, functional/structural characterization and the evaluation of its effect on the spreading of crotoxin and phospholipase A(2) (PLA(2)).