Over the last few decades, research on snake venom toxins has provided not only new tools to decipher molecular details of various physiological processes, but also inspiration to design and develop a number of therapeutic agents. Isolated from the venom of Macrovipera lebetina obutusa (MLO), obtustatin represents the shortest known snake venom monomeric disintegrin specific inhibitor of α1β1 i...

The haemostatic effect of viperine venom and the analgesic effect produced by cobra venom have made venom therapy a popular form of treatment, particularly in chronic painful conditions. In addition to these specific indications snake venoms are in considerable vogue in some centres and are administered in an increasing number of clinical conditions. The venom preparations are used differently,...

Nerve growth factor (NGF) plays an important role in regulating mammalian neuronal/embryonic development, angiogenesis, and other physiological processes and has recently been investigated as a potential treatment for the neurodegenerative disorder, Alzheimer disease. In this study, we provide evidence that human NGF may also function as a metalloproteinase inhibitor, based on studies of NGF fr...

An inventory of purified fibrin(ogen)olytic enzymes from snake venoms is presented. This inventory covers the literature through early 1997 and focuses only on those snake venom enzymes possessing clearly defined fibrinogenolytic and/or fibrinolytic activity. Hemorrhagic metalloproteinases, which in many cases exhibit fibrinogenolytic activity, will in general not be described. This inventory i...

OBJECTIVE(S) Echis carinatus is one of the venomous snakes in Iran. The venom of Iranian Echis carinatus is a rich source of protein with various factors affecting the plasma protein and blood coagulation factor. Some of these proteins exhibit types of enzymatic activities. However, other items are proteins with no enzymatic activity. MATERIALS AND METHODS In order to study the mechanism and ...

Centipedes are among the oldest extant venomous predators on the planet. Armed with a pair of modified, venom-bearing limbs, they are an important group of predatory arthropods and are infamous for their ability to deliver painful stings. Despite this, very little is known about centipede venom and its composition. Advances in analytical tools, however, have recently provided the first detailed...

A novel prothrombin activator enzyme, which we have named 'berythractivase', was isolated from Bothrops erythromelas (jararaca-da-seca) snake venom. Berythractivase was purified by a single cation-exchange-chromatography step on a Resource S (Amersham Biosciences) column. The overall purification (31-fold) indicates that berythractivase comprises about 5% of the crude venom. It is a single-chai...

Venoms are the secretion of venomous animals, which are synthesized and stored in specific areas of their body i.e., venom glands. The animals use venoms for defense and/or to immo‐ bilize their prey. Most of the venoms are complex mixture of biologically active compounds of different chemical nature such as multidomain proteins, peptides, enzymes, nucleotides, lipids, biogenic amines and other...

Background: Snakes have always attracted scientists and it caused awe fear because of the harmful strength its toxins components various from one snake to another. In 2017, World Health Organization (WHO) listed venom as a neglected high-priority disease, with snakes causing up 2.7 million venomous bites, nearly 100,000 victims, three times number human disabilities. Objective: i- Snake backgro...

The processes that drive the evolution of snake venom variability, particularly the role of diet, have been a topic of intense recent research interest. Here, we test whether extensive variation in venom composition in the medically important viper genus Echis is associated with shifts in diet. Examination of stomach and hindgut contents revealed extreme variation between the major clades of Ec...