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Paralytic toxicity was detected by tetrodotoxin (TTX) bioassay in all 15 specimens of the xanthid crabLophozozymus pictor collected from northern Taiwan in 1993. The average toxicity of crab specimens was 921 ± 231 (mean ± S.E.) mouse units. The toxin of crab was partially purified and then identified. It was found that the crab toxin contained TTX and gonyautoxin. The ratio of TTX to gonyautoxin...
The localization and expression profiles of phospholipases A 2 (PLA 2 s) in Trimeresurus flavoridis venom gland were studied by means of in situ hybridization and immunohistochemical techniques. Venom gland cells are tightly arrayed in a single layer along the inlet-like lumens in which venom proteins are stored. mRNAs for PLA 2 s were detected at the high level in cytoplasm...
Direct detection of okadaic acid (OA), dinophysistoxin-1 (DTX-1) and some of their related compounds in toxic mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) is reported using ionspray liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-ISP-MS). This was employed to analyse diarrhoetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) toxins in mussels collected from coastal areas of the northern and southern Adriatic Sea. DTX-1 was found...
Synaptosomes were incubated with bovine serum albumin (BSA) to examine whether the presynaptic action of snake venom phospholipase A 2 (PLA 2 ) toxins is due either to the release of fatty acids resistant to extraction by BSA or to the liberation of a specific fatty acid type. In the presence of BSA (0.5% or 1.0%) two PLA 2 enzymes from Naja naja atra and Naja naja kaouthia...
Stonustoxin (SNTX), a lethal factor purified from the venom of stonefish Synanceja horrida, is a protein (148,000 mol. wt) existing as a dimer comprising two subunits (α and β) of mol. wts 71,000 and 79,000, respectively. Its ld 50 (i.v.) is 17 ng/g in mice and it causes haemolysis of rat and rabbit erythrocytes in vitro. Eight monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) against SNTX have been developed...
Previous studies have shown that homologous phospholipases A 2 (PLA 2 ) (Pa-3, Pa-9C, Pa-10F and Pa-11) from the venom of the Australian king brown snake, Pseudechis australis, significantly reduce the resting membrane potentials and quantal contents of endplate potentials recorded from endplate regions of mouse triangularis sterni nerve-muscle preparations. It is not clear whether...
Botulinum and tetanus neurotoxins, produced by Clostridium botulinum and Clostridium tetani, respectively, are the most poisonous poisons known to mankind. Although botulinum and tetanus neurotoxins share several characteristics, such as similar mol. wts, similar macrostructure, virtually identical mode of action, and a strong amino acid sequence homology, the two neurotoxins differ in one very significant...
Hemorrhagic factor I (LHF-I) was previously purified from the venom of the bushmaster snake (Lachesis muta muta). In terms of biochemical and immunological properties, LHF-I is a glycoprotein (mol. wt 100,000, pI 4.7) consisting of two subunits; it loses its activity following mercaptoethanol treatment. LHF-I contains 0.7 g-atom zinc and 1.2 g-atom calcium per mole protein. The hemorrhagic and...
Microcystins are very potent hepatotoxins and strong liver tumor promoters produced by cyanobacteria, and their occurrence has been reported all over the world. They could threaten human health when toxic Microcystis occurs in water supply reservoirs. In this study, we examined the stability of microcystins during photolysis with UV light. The toxins were easily decomposed by UV light at wavelengths...
Modern analytical techniques permit isolation and structural determination of neurotoxins at the picomole level. However, bioassay-guided fractionation of the sample often relies on simple injection assays using insects, vertebrates or crustaceans of a fairly large size, thus consuming quite a large amount of the samples being investigated. In order to investigate samples of very small size, we...
A novel paralytic toxin was isolated from toxic specimens of a xanthid crab Atergatis floridus inhabiting the Pacific coast of Shikoku Island. Its structure was deduced to be 11-saxitoxinethanoic acid (SEA) based on high-performance liquid chromatography, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, and 1 H and 13 C-NMR spectrometries. This acid was assumed to exist as an equilibrium...
Jararhagin, a haemorrhagic metalloproteinase from Bothrops jararaca venom, plays an important role in systemic as well as local haemorrhage. In this study, the effect of jararhagin on the fibrinolytic system was investigated. The fibrinolytic activity of various kinds of animal plasmas was measured by the fibrin plate method. No activity was detected in plasma alone. However, after mixing plasma...
Three phospholipase A 2 isoenzymes from Naja nigricollis venom inhibit the extrinsic tenase complex. We examined the role of their enzymatic activity in this inhibition by studying the effects of native and His-modified enzymes. Only CM-IV of the His-modified, catalytically inactive proteins showed significant inhibition of the activity of the complex. This indicates that strongly anticoagulant...
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