Evaluation of the antiofidic activities of three Brazilian polyvalent antivenin.

Silva, N.M.V.1, Arruda, E.Z.1, Moraes, R.A.M.1, Soares, A. M.2, Giglio, J. R.2, Melo, P.A.1

1Departamento de Farmacologia Básica E Clínica - UFRJ, RJ, 2 Departamento de Bioquímica, USP, SP, Brazil.

Introduction: We evaluated three Brazilian polyvalent antivenin (PAV), named here as “A”, “B” and “C”, in vivo against the myotoxicity of Bothropsjararacussu and the hemorrhagic activity of Bothropsjararaca venoms. Methods: The antimyotoxicity was tested in vivo and in vitro by measuring the creatinokinase (CK) activity induced by B. jararacussu venom (BJU) or its myotoxins. The venom or its myotoxins were injected intramuscularly into the back tight of mice in vivo or mice isolated extensor digitorum longus muscle (EDL) were superfused in a saline solution with BJU or the venom plus each PAV in vitro. CK activity was determined according to Melo at al, 1994. Antihemorrhagic activity was verified against B. jararaca venom (BJA). Proteolytic and phospholipase A were also evaluated and we used pre-incubation and pre-treatment protocols. Discussion: Our data indicated low antidotal activities and heterogeneity among the sera even in pre-treatments by using a PAV/venom proportion of 4.0 ml/mg which is 20 times that used in clinics.

support: FAPERJ; PRONEX, FUJB-UFRJ, CAPES and CNPq.

Correspondence to: nvmagno@ig.com.br