CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

It is currently known that some colubrid snakes (Colubridae) may cause human envenomation with mild to severe local and/or systemic effects, especially in children. These signs can be misinterpreted as mild envenomation by Bothrops species (Viperidae), and in this case it is common for physicians to prescribe Bothrops antivenoms; however, there is little information about their cross-reactivity with colubrid venoms. The aim of this study was to evaluate the immunological profile and extent of cross-reactivity of two anti-Bothrops serums with some venoms of colubrid snakes commonly found in northeastern Argentina. We performed SDS-PAGE (12% gel) of venoms from the following colubrid snakes: Oxyrhopus guibei, Philodryas olfersii, Philodryas patagoniensis and Leptophis ahaetulla marginatus, under reducing and non-reducing conditions. Then, we carried out Western blotting analysis using bivalent and tetravalent anti- Bothrops serums. SDS-PAGE gels from colubrid venoms showed distinct protein patterns, and it was possible to recognize protein bands ranging from 14.4 to 66.3 when venom proteins were reduced with 2-mercaptoethanol. Regarding the western blotting analysis, the order of cross-reactivity between bivalent/tetravalent antivenom and antigens present in colubrid venoms was the following: O. guibei and P. patagoniensis > P. olfersii > L. ahaetulla marginatus. In the latter the cross-reactivity was practically absent using both antivenoms. These findings, although preliminary, constitute an evidence that proteins present in some colubrid venoms tested in this work contains similar epitopes than those present in Bothrops venoms and let us predict their toxicological complexity. They also constitute an effort towards the understanding of the protein composition of venoms from colubrid species and give insight into future directions for the isolation and characterization of key components present in these venoms.

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