OBJECTIVE The vipers in the Vipera (Acridophaga) ursinii complex are small-sized insectivorous snakes found in parts of central and southern Europe. Subspecies include Vipera ursinii ursinii, Vipera ursinii moldavica, Vipera ursinii macrops, Vipera ursinii rakosiensis, and Vipera ursinii graeca and are commonly known as the meadow vipers. These are the least known European Vipera from a clinica...

Despite comprising over half of the biodiversity living venomous vertebrates, fish venoms are comparatively understudied. Venom from lesser weever ( Echiichthys vipera syn. Trachinus ) has received only cursory attention despite containing one most potent venom toxins (trachinine). Literature records further complicated by early studies combining with that related greater draco ). The current s...

The intracellular transport of venom proteins has been studied in active and resting venom glands of the snake Vipera palaestinae by electron microscope radioautography after an intra-arterial injection of [3H]leucine. In the active gland, most of the label is initially (10 min) found over the RER. By 30 min, the relative grain density of the Golgi complex reaches its maximum, with concomitant ...

The mechanisms by which antivenom neutralizes the venom are still poorly understood. In the present work, we studied the effects of antivenom, constituted with either F(ab9)2 or Fab, on the processes of absorption and elimination of Vipera aspis venom in experimentally envenomed rabbits. We first concluded from this study that during the few hours after intramuscular injection, the venom rapidl...

An adequate assessment of scorpion and snake venom LD50 is an important step for accurate evaluation of antivenom sera potencies and the optimization of serotherapy. The LD50 variation of Tunisian scorpion (Androctonus australis garzonii: Aag and Buthus occitanus tunetanus: Bot) venoms with body weight, sex and strain (Swiss or C57BI/6) of mice used, the route of venom injection, the venom-milk...

A haemorrhagic toxin (VRR-12) from Vipera russelli russelli (Russell's viper) venom has been purified by ion-exchange chromatography on CM-Sephadex C-50 followed by size-exclusion HPLC to electrophoretically homogeneous state. It is a 12 kDa single polypeptide having 1 mole of Zn+2 ion. This toxin induces intense intestinal haemorrhage and to a lesser extent skeletal muscle haemorrhage in mice....

A combination of narrow range isoelectric focusing, electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gel, and gel exclusion on Sephadex reveals the presence of at least 9, possibly 11 isoenzymes of phospholipase A in Naja naja (cobra) venom. Their isoelectric points range from pH 4.60 to 5.66 and their molecular weights from 8,500 to 20,200. The most abundant form (isoelectric point = pH 4.95) has been isolat...

Phospholipases A2 represent the most abundant family of snake venom proteins. They manifest an array of biological activities, which is constantly expanding. We have recently shown that a protein bitanarin, isolated from the venom of the puff adder Bitis arietans and possessing high phospholipolytic activity, interacts with different types of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and with the acety...

A combination of narrow range isoelectric focusing, electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gel, and gel exclusion on Sephadex reveals the presence of at least 9, possibly 11 isoenzymes of phospholipase A in Naja naja (cobra) venom. Their isoelectric points range from pH 4.60 to 5.66 and their molecular weights from 8,500 to 20,200. The most abundant form (isoelectric point = pH 4.95) has been isolat...