Actions of convulxin, isolated from Crotalus durissus cascavella venom in the isolated rat kidney

J. Venom. Anim. Toxins incl. Trop. Dis.

Vol.9, No.2, p.561, 2003.

Poster - ISSN 1678-9199.

Actions of convulxin, isolated from Crotalus durissus cascavella venom, in the isolated rat kidney

Martins, A.M.C.; Toyama, M.H.; Nobre, A.C.L.; Havt, A.; Facó, P.E.G.; Barbosa, P.S.F.; Almeida, A.C.P.; Bezerra, G.P.; Fonteles, M.C.; Monteiro, H.S.A.

UNICAMP and Federal University of Ceará, UFC, Brazil.

The most serious systemic change and primary cause of death after snakebite accidents is acute renal failure. In this work, we studied the action of convulxin, isolated from Crotalus durissus cascavella venom on renal function in the isolated rat kidneys perfused with Krebs-Henseleit solution containing 6% of bovine serum albumin. The parameters studied included perfusion pressure (PP), renal vascular resistance (RVR), glomerular filtration rate (GFR), urinary flow (UF), percent of sodium tubular transport (%TNa⁺), percent of potassium tubular transport (%TK⁺) and percent of chloride tubular transport (%TCl^-). Maximum effects were seen in the last 30 minutes of each perfusion named 120 minutes. Treated group (cvx) was compared to a control group (ct) analyzed by Student t Test (*p<0,05). Convulxin (5 mg/ml) did not cause any alterations on the renal parameters studied. After the infusion of convulxin we observed that PP (ct₁₂₀ = 114.3 ± 3.2 mmHg, cvx₁₂₀ = 122.1 ± 5.4 mmHg*), RVR (ct₁₂₀ = 5.3 ± 0.05 mmHg/mL.g^-1.min^-1, cvx₁₂₀ = 5.7 ± 0.6 mmHg/mL.g^-1.min^-1*), FU (ct₁₂₀ = 0.15 ± 0.002mL.g^-1.min^-1, cvx₁₂₀ = 0.14 ± 0.01 mL.g^-1.min^-1), GFR (ct₁₂₀ = 0.65 ± 0.01mL.g^-1.min^-1, cvx₁₂₀ = 0.67 ± 0.04 mL.g^-1.min^-1), %TNa⁺ (ct₁₂₀ = 81.2 ± 0.3, cvx₁₂₀ = 81.3 ± 2.1*), %TK⁺(ct₁₂₀ = 69.9 ± 0.9, cvx₁₂₀ = 73.5 ± 1.8) and %TCl^- (ct₁₂₀ = 78.9 ± 0.9, cvx₁₂₀ = 79.3 ± 1.8) remained stable during the 120 min. of perfusion. These results showed that convulxin do not participate of the toxic effect of Crotalus durissus cascavella venom in isolated rat kidney model.

Financial supported by CAPES and FAPESP

CORRESPONDENCE TO:

Arlandia Cristina Lima Nobre, Rua Capitão Melo 3921 ap-202 bloco B, Fortaleza, CE, CEP: 60120-220, Brasil, Email: arlandia@zipmail.com.br