South American snake venoms with abundant neurotoxic components. Composition and toxicological properties. A literature review

Pharmacological Screening of Venoms from Five Brazilian Micrurus Species on Different Ion Channels

“…To date, 34 Micrurus species found throughout the country in diverse biomes are described [ 1 ]. Micrurus venoms are composed mainly of two toxin families, the phospholipase A 2 (PLA 2 ) [ 2 ] and the three-finger toxin (3FTx) [ 3 , 4 ], conferring a phenotypic dichotomy pattern [ 5 ]. This dichotomy has been better correlated to the geographic distribution of Micrurus species among the north-south axis of the American continent than to the species phylogeny [ 6 ].…”

“…The further to the north of the continent, more PLA 2 -predominant venoms are found, and the further to the south of the continent, more 3FTx-predominant venoms are found [ 6 , 7 ]. Moreover, other minor or less frequent venom components were found in transcriptomes and proteomes analyses of Micrurus venom glands and venoms, such as L-amino acid oxidase (LAO), snake venom metalloproteinase (SVMP), snake venom serine proteinase (SVSP), Kunitz serine protease inhibitors (KSPI), 5′ nucleotidase (5′NUC), aminopeptidase, phosphodiesterase (PDE), hyaluronidase (HYAL), dipeptidyl peptidases (DPP), cysteine-rich secretory protein (CRISP), C-type lectin (CTL), lipases, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), nerve growth factor (NGF), phospholipase B (PLB), wraprin-like proteins, veficolins (VEF) and vespryns (VESP) [ 5 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. In Brazil, Micrurus venoms are also predominant in 3FTx and PLA 2 , with the majority being 3FTx-predominant, in accordance with the dichotomic pattern [ 5 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ].…”

“…Moreover, other minor or less frequent venom components were found in transcriptomes and proteomes analyses of Micrurus venom glands and venoms, such as L-amino acid oxidase (LAO), snake venom metalloproteinase (SVMP), snake venom serine proteinase (SVSP), Kunitz serine protease inhibitors (KSPI), 5 2 of 18 nucleotidase (5 NUC), aminopeptidase, phosphodiesterase (PDE), hyaluronidase (HYAL), dipeptidyl peptidases (DPP), cysteine-rich secretory protein (CRISP), C-type lectin (CTL), lipases, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), nerve growth factor (NGF), phospholipase B (PLB), wraprin-like proteins, veficolins (VEF) and vespryns (VESP) [5,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. In Brazil, Micrurus venoms are also predominant in 3FTx and PLA 2 , with the majority being 3FTx-predominant, in accordance with the dichotomic pattern [5,[7][8][9][10]. Studies on venom proteomes of Brazilian Micrurus species have shown the variety of different sequences of both 3FTx and PLA 2 proteins that can be found in one single venom [8,9].…”