TOXIC ACTIVITIES OF Thalassophryne maculosa (sapocano) FISH VENOM

Sosa-de-Rosales, I.(1), Piran-Soares, A.A.(2), Farsky, S.H.P.(3), Takehara, H.A.(2), Lopes-Ferreira, M.(2)

(1)Escola de Ciências Aplicadas do Mar, Universidade do Oriente, Venezuela, (2)Laboratório de Imunopatologia, Instituto Butantan, Brasil, (3)Departamento de Análises Clínicas e Toxicológica, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas, USP, Brasil.

Thalassophryne maculosa fish is widely distributed in the coasts of the north of South America, Colombia and Venezuela. The human accidents occur by inoculation of the venom through the fish spines and are characterized by severe edema, intense pain and necrosis. Preliminary data on the biological and biochemical properties of the venom showed that when crude venom was separated by SDS-PAGE at least 7 components were visualized with the major band located around 45,000 mol. wt. Subcutaneous injections of the venom in mice induced systemic effects as difficulty of movement, increase of the heart frequency and abdominal dilation, followed by death. Intradermal injection (footpad) of the venom induced nociception and edema in a dose-dependent manner, reaching a maximum with 30 mg (190 ± 33 s, 3.0 ± 0.8 mm, respectively). Effects evoked by topical applications of venom (3 mg) on cremaster muscle were visualized through intravital microscopy. Stasis was observed concomitantly with the presence of thrombi in venules and focal transient constrictions in arterioles. Even when a dose as high as 300 mg venom was used it was not possible to detect any phospholipase A₂, hemorrhagic or coagulant activities. The intraperitoneal LD₅₀, determined by probit test using groups of six mice for each dose, was 5.42 mg/Kg. These data suggest that although the Thalassophryne maculosa venom did not present the activities tested it induced serious local and systemic effects.

Supported by FAPESP (01/11032-3)

CORRESPONDENCE TO:

Ana Amélia Chagas PiranSoares, Avenida Engenheiro Heitor Antonio Eiras Garcia, 396, Apto. 63M, São Paulo, SP, CEP: 05588-000, Brasil, Email: nelson_ana@uol.com.br