A study of bacterial contamination of rattlesnake venom

Garcia-Lima, E.; Laure, C J

doi:10.1590/s0037-86821987000100004

Cited by 16 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…23,24,25,26 It is tempting to speculate that crotamine and isoforms 27 or paralogs such as crotasin 28 may have a complementary antimicrobial spectrum.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In vitro antibacterial and hemolytic activities of crotamine, a small basic myotoxin from rattlesnake Crotalus durissus

et al. 2011

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Crotamine, a myotoxin from the venom of South American rattlesnake, is structurally related to b-defensins, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) found in vertebrate animals. Here, we tested the antibacterial properties of crotamine and found that it killed several strains of Escherichia coli, with the MICs ranging from 25 to 100 lg ml À1 . Time-kill and bacterial membrane permeabilization assays revealed that killing of bacteria by crotamine occurred within 1 h and reached the maximum by 2 h. Additionally, the anti-E. coli activity of crotamine was completely abolished with 12.5 mM NaCl. Furthermore, the three intramolecular disulfide bonds of crotamine appeared dispensable for its antibacterial activity. The reduced form of crotamine was active against E. coli as well. However, crotamine showed no or weak activity up to 200 lg ml À1 against other species of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Crotamine showed no appreciable hemolytic activity to erythrocytes. Our studies revealed that crotamine is also an AMP that kills bacteria through membrane permeabilization. However, crotamine appears to have a narrow antibacterial spectrum, distinct from many classical b-defensins, reinforcing the notion that crotamine originated from the b-defensin gene lineage, but has undergone significant functional diversification.

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“…23,24,25,26 It is tempting to speculate that crotamine and isoforms 27 or paralogs such as crotasin 28 may have a complementary antimicrobial spectrum.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In vitro antibacterial and hemolytic activities of crotamine, a small basic myotoxin from rattlesnake Crotalus durissus

et al. 2011

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“…Interestingly, no β-defensins tested in this study showed antibacterial activity against M. morganii nor K. pneumoniae. Although bacteria were also isolated from the venom of C. durissus terrificus [35], envenomations by this species (C. durissus terrificus) do not usually cause infection or macroscopic necrosis in the bite site [34]. The toxins present in C. durissus terrificus venom: crotamine, PLA 2 , LAAO [36], and cathelicidins [22] could help the asepsis snakebite wound.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antimicrobial Activity of Snake β-Defensins and Derived Peptides

Oguiura

Corrêa

Rosmino

et al. 2021

Toxins

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β-defensins are antimicrobial peptides presenting in vertebrate animals. They participate in innate immunity, but little is known about them in reptiles, including snakes. Although several β-defensin genes were described in Brazilian snakes, their function is still unknown. The peptide sequence from these genes was deduced, and synthetic peptides (with approximately 40 amino acids and derived peptides) were tested against pathogenic bacteria and fungi using microbroth dilution assays. The linear peptides, derived from β-defensins, were designed applying the bioisosterism strategy. The linear β-defensins were more active against Escherichia coli, Micrococcus luteus, Citrobacter freundii, and Staphylococcus aureus. The derived peptides (7–14 mer) showed antibacterial activity against those bacteria and on Klebsiella pneumoniae. Nonetheless, they did not present activity against Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans, Trychophyton rubrum, and Aspergillus fumigatus showing that the cysteine substitution to serine is deleterious to antifungal properties. Tryptophan residue showed to be necessary to improve antibacterial activity. Even though the studied snake β-defensins do not have high antimicrobial activity, they proved to be attractive as template molecules for the development of antibiotics.

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“…Las metas en el manejo inicial del ofidismo deberían estar dirigidas a retardar la absorción del veneno (19,21), eliminar el veneno del organismo por medios mecánicos, neutralizar el veneno (3,19,22), aliviar los síntomas y prevenir las complicaciones (20,23). Para lograr esto las medidas que han demostrado mejores efectos a corto y largo plazo son la inmovilización del miembro afectado, que resulta crucial para aminorar la diseminación del veneno a nivel sistémico (2,5) y la colocación de una ligadura proximal, mas no un torniquete que puede producir una disminución importante del flujo sanguíneo en el miembro afectado aumentando así el riesgo de complicaciones locales en especial por necrosis de los tejidos y alteraciones de coagulación (22,24,25).…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

Ofidismo en la provincia de Chanchamayo, Junín: Revisión de 170 casos consecutivos en el Hospital de Apoyo de La Merced.

Forero¹,

Várgas²,

Samame³

et al. 2013

Rev Med Hered

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Objetivo: Describir las características clínico-epidemiológicas del ofidismo en la provincia de Chanchamayo, Junín, Perú. Materiales y métodos: Se revisaron todas las historias clínicas de pacientes con diagnóstico de ofidismo en el “Hospital de Apoyo de La Merced” (HALM), Junín, Perú entre enero de 1998 y diciembre del 2000. Se recogieron datos de demográficos y clínico-epidemiológicos. Resultados: Las historias clínicas revisadas fueron 195, de estas, 170 fueron incluidas en el análisis. La media edad fue 26.2 años (rango: 1-76 años). La mayoría (62.4%) era de sexo masculino. El 43.5% provenía del distrito de La Merced. Los casos de ofidismo ocurrieron con mayor frecuencia (67%) durante los meses de lluvia (de diciembre a mayo). La localización más frecuente de la mordedura fue en los miembros inferiores (67.7%). El tiempo entre el accidente y la atención médica fue en promedio de 5 hrs. 43 min. (± 5 hrs. 56 min.). El animal agresor se identificó en 37.6% de las veces, siendo el más frecuente el Bothrops atrox (36.5%). Los síntomas más comunes que acompañaron el cuadro clínico fueron dolor, edema, eritema (80%). La mayoría (78.3%) recibió suero antiofídico, de estos, 18.8% presentaron reacciones anafilactoides o urticariformes luego de la administración. La complicación más frecuente fue celulitis, presentándose mas comúnmente en pacientes que recibieron corticoides por más de 5 días (p=0.024). Ningún paciente falleció. Conclusiones: La mayoría de accidentes ofídicos en esta región ocurren en el ámbito rural. La utilización de corticoides por más de 5 días se asoció con una mayor frecuencia de celulitis. Las reacciones de hipersensibilidad hacia el suero antiofídico no son raras, siendo recomendable realizar la prueba intradérmica antes de su administración.

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A study of bacterial contamination of rattlesnake venom

Abstract: The authors studied the bacterial contamination of rattlesnake venom isolated from snakes in captivity and wild snakes caught recently. The captive snakes showed a relatively high incidence of bacterial contamination of their venom.

Cited by 16 publications

References 3 publications

In vitro antibacterial and hemolytic activities of crotamine, a small basic myotoxin from rattlesnake Crotalus durissus

In vitro antibacterial and hemolytic activities of crotamine, a small basic myotoxin from rattlesnake Crotalus durissus

Antimicrobial Activity of Snake β-Defensins and Derived Peptides

Ofidismo en la provincia de Chanchamayo, Junín: Revisión de 170 casos consecutivos en el Hospital de Apoyo de La Merced.

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