Journal of Emergency Practice and Trauma

Pharmacoligical characterization of the iranian Cerastes cerastes gasperettii (Reptilia: Ophidia: Viperidae) venom

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Sasan Zaeri 1
Zohre Aghaei 2
Navid Reza Mashayekhi 3
Ali Salemi 4
Ramin Seyedian 1

1 Department of Pharmacology, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran

2 Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

3 Department of Internal Medicine, Cardiology Division, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran

4 Department of Human Vaccine and Serum, Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Karaj, Iran

https://doi.org/10.34172/jept.2021.22
Abstract
Objective: Snake envenomation is common in tropical and subtropical countries of the Middle East areas including Iran. Cerastes cerastes gasperettii is a dangerous snake living in southwestern provinces of Iran. It causes massive edema at the bite site and coagulopathy leading to death if untreated. Methods: The purpose of this preliminary animal study was to evaluate the toxicity and proteomic of this venom for the first time in Iran. Moreover, the hemodynamic changes with intravenous injection of the venom were assessed and inotropic in addition to arrhythmogenic properties of this venom were investigated. Results: The estimated amount of the LD50 with intraperitoneal injection was slightly less than the similar experiment in Saudi Arabia (1.32 mg/kg versus 978 µg/kg body weight). There were 8 distinct protein bands between 12 and 66 kDa in SDS-PAGE analysis that were different with Moroccan experiment due to inter and intra species variation. Inotropic potencies were not significant since the lethal dose with intravenous injection was much lower than the Arabian experiment in guinea pigs (2.4 mg/kg versus 0.8 mg/kg). Conclusion: According to the low hemodynamic changes induced with the venom, it seems that coagulopathy and edema are the most dangerous effects of this rare snake in Iran.

Keywords

Snake
Hemodynamic
Proteomic
Cerastes gasperettii
Subjects
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Journal of Emergency Practice and Trauma
Volume 7, Issue 2
July 2021
Pages 123-126

  • Receive Date 27 April 2021
  • Revise Date 01 June 2021
  • Accept Date 08 June 2021

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