In Southeast Asia, envenoming resulting from cobra snakebites is an important public health issue in many regions, and antivenom therapy is the standard treatment for the snakebite. Because these cobras share a close evolutionary history, the amino acid sequences of major venom components in different snakes are very similar. Therefore, either monovalent or polyvalent antivenoms may offer paras...

In a recent paper Sarkar and Maitre (1950) have reported the action of cobra venoin both on the muscle and the neuromuscular junction, the paralysis of the latter setting much earlier and with smaller concentration oi the venom. This is in accordance with the pioneer investigations of Lauder, Brunton and Fayrer (1873, 1874). They have also reported that the conducting power of the nerve remains...

Venom, venom IgG and IgM antibody and total serum IgG levels following king cobra bites in two reptile handlers were measured by enzyme immunoassay. The patient in case 1 received antivenom while the patient in case 2 did not. Case 1 made a complete recovery following the bite and produced a high titre short-lived antibody. Venom antigen was not detected in the sample taken 11 hr after antiveno...

Interest in the alternate or C3 shunt complement pathway has recently been generated by a number of reports (1-5). Its presence in invertebrates points to a primitive phylogenetic appearance (6). The C3 shunt can be triggered by high molecular weight polysaccharides in a manner reminiscent of the properdin system (7). Once activated by cobra venom, erythrocytes and other cells can be lysed in t...

snake venoms contain a rich variety of factors which affect blood coagulation. there have been few reports on the anticoagulant activity of the venom of different cobras, but no such observations have been made on the iranian cobra, although a procoagulant factor has been described. in this study an anticoagulant factor has been purified from the venom of naja naja oxiana using gel filtration f...

The venom of Pakistan species of snakes (Naja naja, Vipera russelli and Echis carinatus) and lethal fractions of Cobra (Naja naja) venom were converted to toxoid with formalin. Detoxification of the crude venoms and toxic fraction was attained by addition of formalin in several steps and incubation at 37°C maintaining the pH 7.0. Relationship of formalin concentration and incubation period was ...

Snake venom is a complex mixture of proteins and peptides, and a number of studies have described the biological properties of several venomous proteins. Nevertheless, a complete proteomic profile of venom from any of the many species of snake is not available. Proteomics now makes it possible to globally identify proteins from a complex mixture. To assess the venom proteomic profiles from Naja...

Since the haemolysins of the several venoms respond differently to photodynamic action, they may be regarded as possessing different chemical constitutions. As regards stability, cobra haemolysin ranks first, daboia second, and Crotalus third. The toxicity of all the venoms is more or less diminished by eosin and erythrosin in sunlight. This reduction in toxicity depends upon chemical changes, ...

Two toxins have been isolated from the venom of the Forest cobra (Naja melanoleuca) and their amino acid sequences elucidated. Toxin b, a 71 amino acid residue molecule, is devoid of methionine and resembles toxin (x from Naja nivea venom both immunochemically and in amino acid sequence. Toxin d consists of 61 amino acid residues with alanine, phenylalanine, and leucine totally absent. Toxin d ...

The chemical and biological properties of the nerve growth factor isolated from Naja naja venom are described. The nerve growth promoting activity appears to be distinct from the most commonly known enzymes and toxins present in the venom. The purified nerve growth factor from cobra venom has properties remarkably similar to those of the nerve growth factor isolated from mouse submaxillary glan...