Estudo comparativo das atividades biológicas do veneno da Bothrops moojeni, do cerrado Tocantinense e do Sudeste

Abstract

The family of snakes Viperidae is responsible for the largest number of snakebites recorded in Brazil, being of greater relevance to public health. In this family is the Bothrops genus, responsible for about 90% of accidents in the country, and also in the state of Tocantins. Bothrops moojeni is distributed throughout the Cerrado Tocantinense, it is the most relevant species for the State. Studies show that the composition of poisons varies greatly according to sex, ontogeny, food, geographic distribution, among others. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the composition of biological activities induced by Bothrops moojeni venom, in a comparative study, between the venom collected in specimens from the Cerrado Tocantins and in Southeast Brazil. For this purpose, the protein profile was characterized by electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), and the biological activities of edema, hemorrhage, necrosis and myotoxicity were determined in Swiss mice. The analysis of the protein profile showed predominant bands, with three major bands (40, 18 and 10 kDa) for the Tocantins pool, and for the Southeast pool (24, 18 and 10 kDa). Both B. moojeni do Tocantins and Southeast venom showed the tested biological activities, with no significant differences for the evaluated protocols. Therefore, despite the poison pool in Tocantins varying in the intensity of the protein bands in relation to the poison in the Southeast, there was no change in biological activities. However, further studies will be necessary in view of this variability observed in the protein constitution between poisons.