Evidence for in vitro antiophidian properties of aqueous buds extract of Eucalyptus against Montivipera bornmuelleri venom

Because snake venoms are complex mixtures of bioactive molecules, snake bites produce a large panel of symptoms which cannot be totally prevented by current antivenoms. Thus investigating plant extracts for antivenomics therapy approaches seemed relevant. Here, we evaluated the potency of the aqueous Buds extract of Eucalyptus (ABEE) to counteract the main enzymatic activities of Montivipera bornmuelleri venom. We showed that ABEE efficiently counteracts the proteolytic, Phospholipases A2 (PLA2), and L-aminoacid oxidase activities (LAAO) of M. bornmuelleri venom. ABEE was found to inhibit Acetylcholine esterase (AChE) and to exhibit a potent antioxidant activity. In addition, M. bornmuelleri venom displays antibacterial properties against Staphylococcus aureus, which were not inhibited by ABEE. We also showed that of M. bornmuelleri venom lacks AChE, either anti-AChE activities. ABEE represents a promising natural source of antivenomics compounds against the deleterious effects of M. bornmuelleri or other Vipera species bites.