cosmeceuticals and atypical therapies (bee venom and leech therapies) are also reported. The level of cumulative and detailed information provided in this review may help pharmacists, physicians, biotechnologists, pharmacologists, and scientists interested in toxinology, drug discovery, and development of toxin-based products.
In this chapter, the potential medical-pharmaceutical use of molecules derived from toad skin secretions is discussed. Over the past decades, numerous bioactive components from toad poisons, with diverse biological activities, have been studied. They present diversified chemical structures, such as steroids, alkaloids, peptides, proteins, and biogenic amines. Toad poison components are the result of pharmacological and biochemical refinement that occurred during the process of evolution, which made them highly effective. They present a broad spectrum of physiological and defense functions. The dried secretion from the skin glands of toads has been used clinically for over a millennium as an anodyne cardiotonic, antimicrobial, local anesthetic, and antineoplastic agent. The discovery of poison components with biological activity, such as anticancer, antimicrobial, antiviral, antiparasitic, modulators of blood coagulation, neurotransmission, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory, among others, aiming to discover new drugs, is a challenge. However, despite the difficulties, these studies have been conducted and many poison components with therapeutic potential have been identified.
Background: Studies on toad poison are relevant since they are considered a good source of toxins that act on different biological systems. Among the molecules found in the toad poison, it can be highlighted the cardiotonic heterosides, which have a known mechanism that inhibit Na + /K +-ATPase enzyme. However, these poisons have many other molecules that may have important biological actions. Therefore, this work evaluated the action of the low molecular weight components from Rhinella schneideri toad poison on Na + /K +-ATPase and their anticonvulsive and / or neurotoxic effects, in order to detect molecules with actions of biotechnological interest. Methods: Rhinella schneideri toad (male and female) poison was collected by pressuring their parotoid glands and immediately dried and stored at-20 °C. The poison was dialysed and the water containing the low molecular mass molecules (< 8 kDa) that permeate the dialysis membrane was collected, frozen and lyophilized, resulting in the sample used in the assays, named low molecular weight fraction (LMWF). Na + /K + ATPase was isolated from rabbit kidneys and enzyme activity assays performed by the quantification of phosphate released due to enzyme activity in the presence of LMWF (1.0; 10; 50 and 100 µg/mL) from Rhinella schneideri poison. Evaluation of the L-Glutamate (L-Glu) excitatory amino acid uptake in brain-cortical synaptosomes of Wistar rats was performed using [3H]L-glutamate and different concentration of LMWF (10-5 to 10 µg/µL). Anticonvulsant assays were performed using pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) to induce seizures in Wistar rats (n= 6), which were cannulated in the lateral ventricle and treated with different concentration of LMWF (0.25; 0.5; 1.0; 2.0; 3.0 and 4.0 µg/µL) 15 min prior to the injection of the seizure agent.
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