Comparative Study of Muscular Regeneration after Necrosis Induced by Philodryas patagoniensis and Bothrops alternates Snake Venoms

MARÍA E. PEICHOTO; MATÍAS N. SÁNCHEZ; PAMELA TEIBLER; SILVANA MARUÑAK; OFELIA ACOSTA

Orlando

Congreso; 35th Annual Meeting of the American College of Toxicology; 2014

American College of Toxicology

According to studies carried out with Bothrops (Viperidae) venoms, poor muscle regeneration is evidenced when tissues are affected by hemorrhage as this affects the microvascular supply of nutrients and oxygen necessary to accomplish a successful regeneration. On the other hand, the process of muscular regeneration after injury induced by Philodryas patagoniensis (Colubridae) venom (PpV) - which exhibits higher hemorrhagic activity than Bothrops alternatus venom (BaV) - has never been studied before. Thus, the purpose of this work was to evaluate and compare the regeneration of skeletal muscle fibers after necrosis induced by these two venoms. Mice were injected into the gastrocnemius muscle with 40 µg of either PpV or BaV. After 1, 3, 7, 14 and 28 days of inoculation, muscle fragments were extracted to have a qualitative histological assessment of the regeneration by staining sections with Hematoxylin-Eosin and Gomori´s One-Step Trichrome. Samples showed an earlier appearance of regenerating fibers in muscles injected with BaV than with PpV. These results were consistent with those evaluating fibrosis, which showed an earlier and a higher amount of muscle tissue substituted by collagen fibers in PpV samples. These differences could be related with the different hemorrhagic activities exhibited by both venoms, and it would be the cause of the deficient muscular regeneration observed in P. patagoniensis envenomation, both experimentally and clinically. On the whole, these observations help us to understand the local pathological effects associated with viperid and colubrid envenomings, and they should be considered in both diagnosis and prognosis of snakebite victims.