The potential of Bothrops moojeni venom in the field of hemostasis. Established use and new insights.

Early studies in the 1930s on the venom of South American Lancehead snakesofthe Bothrops genuslead to the discovery of compounds active in blood coagulation such as batroxobin and botrocetin. The scope of our investigations is to have a deeper look at the crude venom of B. moojeni using state-of-the-art proteomics methods, as well as newly developed bioassays screening for activities in the different fields of application. The proteomics techniques used up to now have included different chromatography methods, mass spectrometry, and bio-computing. The bioassays are focussed on enzymatic and other activities in the field of hemostasis and fibrinolysis. Besides the known activities several new and interesting ones have been found. They still need to be studied and confirmed in more specific supplementary assays.