Poster 122 - Hepatotoxicity of Crotalus durissus terrificus snake venom in rats and its prevention

Poster 122. Congresso da Sociedade Brasileira de Toxinologia, 8., Symposium of the Pan American Section of the International Society on Toxinology, 8., 2004, Angra dos Reis, Brasil. Abstracts... J. Venom. Anim. Toxins incl.Trop. Dis., 2004, 10, 3, p.481.

Hepatotoxicity of Crotalus durissus terrificus Snake Venom In Rats And Its Prevention By Antivenom

¹Bortolin, K.; ¹França, R.F.; ¹Sales, R.P.; ¹Mine, C.E.C.; ¹Franco, A.D.; ²Brandão, A. A. H. ; ²Carvalho, V.A.P.; ³Hyslop, S.; ¹Cogo, J.C.; ¹Lopes-Martins, R.A.B.; ¹Ribeiro, W.

1 Depto. de Fisiologia e Farmacodinâmica, Instituto de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento (IP&D), Universidade do Vale do Paraíba (UNIVAP), São José dos Campos - SP. ; 2 Depto. de Farmacologia, Unesp, São José dos Campos – SP; 3 Depto. Farmacologia e Bioquímica, Unicamp, Campinas – SP

Envenoming by the South American rattlesnake Crotalus durissus terrificus (C.d.t.) is characterized by haemostatic disturbances, renal, cardiovascular and hepatical disjunction. In this study, we examined the hepatic damage caused by C.d.t. venom in rats and was assessed its prevention by antivenom. Male Wistar rats (200±20g) were divided into 13 groups (7 rats/group) that received no treatment (C, control), venom + antivenom (V + A, 200g/Kg of venom inoculated via i.m. and 3, 6, 9, 12 hours after they were treated via intraperitoneal (i.p.) with 13mg/Kg of anticrotalic serumtherapy), venom (V, 200g/Kg of venom injected via i.m. and 3, 6, 9, 12 hours after they received via i.p. saline 0.9% w/v solution), antivenom (A, the animals received via i.m. saline 0.9% w/v solution and 3, 6, 9, 12 hours after they were treated via i.p. with 13mg/Kg of anticrotalic serumtherapy). The animals were killed 48 hours after administration of antivenom to determine the enzymatic activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) and alkaline phosfatase (AP). Samples of hepatic tissue were also processed for histological analysis. Histological abnormalities of the liver tissue like cell necrosis, eosynophilic areas, sinusoidal congestion and presence of inflammatory cells were accompanied by a persistent increase of serum activities of AST, ALT, GGT and AP in groups V, A and V + A in all the periods. Those results indicate that the significant biochemical and histological disturbances induced by C.d.t. venom in liver rats could not be prevented by anticrotalic serumtherapy.