Myotoxic effect and histological damage of the venoms from two Bothrops diporus species (northeastern Argentina and southwestern Brazil)

PONCE-SOTO L.A.; ROMERO-VARGAS, F.F.; TORRES-HUACO, F.D.; GAY, C.C.; RODRIGUEZ J.P.; MARUÑAK S.; TEIBLER, G.P.; VERA-GONZÁLES C.A.; LEIVA, L.C.; MARANGONI, S.; ACOSTA DE PÉREZ, O.C.

Araxá, Minas Gerais

Congreso; XI Congresso da Sociedade Brasileira de Toxinologia. Toxinas Naturais: Conhecimento Atual e Novos Desafios.; 2010

Sociedade Brasileira de Toxinologia

Bothrops diporus is responsible by snakebite in the Northeastern Argentina and Southwestern Brazil. Its venom induces an important myotoxic effect that leads to the characteristic symptoms of bothropic envenomation and may cause myoglobinuria. The most common complication in lethal cases is acute renal failure. In order to evaluate the myotoxicity induced by B. diporus species from two different regions of South America (Bd-NA and Bd-SB), mice were injected by i.m. route with whole venom (20 µg). Three hours later, mice were anesthetized and the serum was obtained to measure the CK activity. Moreover, gastrocnemius muscle and kidneys were excised for histological study. The CK values were 1300.4 ± 121.3 and 995.6 ± 79.9 IU/L for Bd-NA and Bd-SB, respectively. Histological sections of the muscle control retained a normal appearance. Meanwhile those samples of gastrocnemius muscle injected with either Bd-Na or Bd-SB venom showed prominent damage characterized by myonecrosis, hemorrhage, edema and leukocyte infiltration. However, the number of necrotic cells in Bd-NA was higher than in that of Bd-SB, which is in agreement with the CK levels in serum. Histological examinations of kidney were similar in both cases. It was observed peritubular capillary congestion in medullar region. Sections of renal cortex showed congestion of the glomerullar capillaries with mild dilated Bowman?s space, tubular dilatation, as well as, turbid degeneration of tubular cells. Besides, some necrotic cells were noted. In conclusion, the venom from Bd-NA exhibited a slight myotoxic effect in comparison with the venom from Bd-SA specimen, probably because of the presence of a major quantity of myotoxins in the whole venom. Further proteomic studies are necessary to know the protein composition and thus elucidate the geographical and ecological variations responsible of the different pharmacological activities.