Sulfated Galactan from Palisada flagellifera Inhibits Toxic Effects of Lachesis muta Snake Venom

Marine Drugs

Ana Cláudia Rodrigues da Silva²  Luciana Garcia Ferreira¹  Maria Eugênia Rabello Duarte¹  Miguel Daniel Noseda¹  Eladio Flores Sanchez³  André Lopes Fuly² 

[1] Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Federal University of Paraná, CEP 81531-980 Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil; E-Mails:;Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Federal Fluminense University, CEP 24020-141 Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; E-Mail:;Laboratory of Biochemistry of Proteins from Animal Venoms, Research and Development Center, Ezequiel Dias Foundation, CEP 30510-010 Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil; E-Mail:

关键词: sulfated galactan;    Palisada flagellifera;    Lachesis muta;    snake venom;    neutralization;   

DOI  :  10.3390/md13063761

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

In Brazil, snakebites are a public health problem and accidents caused by Lachesis muta have the highest mortality index. Envenomation by L. muta is characterized by systemic (hypotension, bleeding and renal failure) and local effects (necrosis, pain and edema). The treatment to reverse the evolution of all the toxic effects is performed by injection of antivenom. However, such therapy does not effectively neutralize tissue damage or any other local effect, since in most cases victims delay seeking appropriate medical care. In this way, alternative therapies are in demand, and molecules from natural sources have been exhaustively tested. In this paper, we analyzed the inhibitory effect of a sulfated galactan obtained from the red seaweed Palisada flagellifera against some toxic activities of L. muta venom. Incubation of sulfated galactan with venom resulted in inhibition of hemolysis, coagulation, proteolysis, edema and hemorrhage. Neutralization of hemorrhage was also observed when the galactan was administered after or before the venom injection; thus mimicking a real in vivo situation. Moreover, the galactan blocked the edema caused by a phospholipase A₂ isolated from the same venom. Therefore, the galactan from P. flagellifera may represent a promising tool to treat envenomation by L. muta as a coadjuvant for the conventional antivenom.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.