Antimicrobial potency of snake venoms from northeastern Argentina

GRITTI, MICAELA ANDREA; PEICHOTO, MARIA ELISA; TEIBLER, GLADYS PAMELA

Congreso; XVI Congresso da Sociedade Brasileira de Toxinologia; 2022

The failure of antibiotics to kill various pathogens due to bacterial resistance highlights the urgent need to develop novel, potent, and less toxic agents from natural sources against various infectious agents. Snake venoms are a rich source of bioactive molecules and they are being investigated worldwide for their antimicrobial potency. Objective: In this study, we tested snake venoms from Northeastern Argentina for antibacterial activity. Methods: We used nine venoms from the three most important snake families: Viperidae (Bothrops alternatus, Bothrops diporus), Elapidae (Micrurus baliocoryiphus), and Colubridae (Oxyrhopus guibei, Leptophis ahaetulla marginatus, Leptodeira anulata pulchriceps, Erytrolamprus aesculappii, Philodyas olfersi olfersii, Philodryas patagoniensis). Two-fold serial dilutions of each venom were tested by gel diffusion against the following bacteria: Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Pseudomona aeruginosa ATCC 27853, Stenotrofromona maltophilia ATCC 17666, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212. Results: Both viperid and elapid venoms showed dose-dependent antibacterial activity. No colubrid snake venom showed evidence of this activity on any bacterial strain tested in this study. Conclusion: These findings showed that local snake venoms have antibacterial activity comparable to the antibiotics commonly used to treat bacterial infection. There may be more than one venom component responsible for this activity, and they are being investigated further.