Tityus serrulatus Scorpion Venom: In Vitro Tests and Their Correlation with In Vivo Lethal Dose Assay.

ABSTRACT: Scorpion stings are the main cause of human envenomation in Brazil and, for the treatment of victims, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the use of antivenoms. The first step to achieve effective antivenom is to use a good quality venom pool and to evaluate it, with LD₅₀ determination as the most accepted procedure. It is, however, time-consuming and requires advanced technical training. Further, there are significant ethical concerns regarding the number of animals required for testing. Hence, we investigated the correspondence between LD₅₀ results, in vitro assays, and a strong correlation with proteolytic activity levels was observed, showing, remarkably, that proteases are potential toxicity markers for Tityus serrulatus venom. The comparison of

SUBMITTER: Cajado-Carvalho D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5744100 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature